Cap. 345 Art. 11Functions and powers of the competent authority.

(1) Without prejudice to any other power or function conferred to it by this Act or any other law, it shall also be the function of the competent authority:

(a) to approve, or otherwise, the prospectus of any offer of securities to the public in Malta;

(b) to approve, or otherwise, the admissibility of securities to a local regulated market;

(ba) to approve, or otherwise, the registration of a sponsor, as may be prescribed;

(c) to make Capital Markets Rules for the better implementation and purposes of this Part;

(d) to ensure compliance by issuers of securities with the requirements or conditions set out in the Prospectus Regulation, the Directives, this Act and any regulations and Capital Markets Rules issued thereunder;

(da) to examine whether, and ensure that, an issuer’s regulated information is in accordance with the requirements established in the Capital Markets Rules;

(db) to ensure a proxy advisor’s compliance with transparency requirements as established in the Capital Markets Rules;

(e) to monitor the timely disclosure of information by issuers or any other persons subject to the Capital Markets Rules with the objective of ensuring effective and equal access to the public in Malta and in all Member States or EEA States where the securities are admitted to trading on a local regulated market;

(f) to act as the designated competent authority in Malta for the purposes of implementing the relevant provisions of the Prospectus Regulation and the Directives, ensure that the provisions adopted pursuant to the Directives are applied and issue Capital Markets Rules in furtherance of its responsibility under any provisions of any of the Directives, which rules shall be binding on issuers, shareholders and any other persons as may be indicated in the said Rules: Provided that, in relation to the Statutory Audit Directive, this paragraph shall only apply to the extent that the said Directive applies to issuers;

(g) to cooperate with ESMA for the purposes of, and where required by, the Prospectus Regulation, the Directives or any other applicable law.

(2) Without prejudice to any other regulatory and investigatory powers conferred to it by this Act or any other law, the competent authority shall have the following powers:

(a) to require any person to provide supplementary information in a prospectus or through any other means as may be specified by the competent authority, where necessary for investor protection;

(b) to prohibit or suspend advertisements or require any person to cease or suspend advertisements for a maximum of ten (10) consecutive working days on any single occasion, where there are reasonable grounds for believing that the Prospectus Regulation, this Act or any regulations or Capital Markets Rules issued thereunder have been infringed in a local regulated market;

(c) to make public the fact that a person is failing to comply with its obligations;

(d) to suspend the scrutiny of a prospectus submitted to it for approval or suspend or restrict an offer of securities to the public or admission to listing and, or trading on a local regulated market where the competent authority is making use of the power to impose a prohibition or restriction, until such prohibition or restriction has ceased;

(e) to refuse approval of any prospectus drawn up by any person for a maximum period of not more than five (5) years, in the case where that person has repeatedly and severely infringed Prospectus Regulation, this Act or any regulations or Capital Markets Rules issued thereunder;

(f) to disclose, or to require any person to disclose, all material information which may have an effect on the assessment of the securities offered to the public or admitted to trading on a local regulated market in order to ensure investor protection or the smooth operation and integrity of the market;

(g) to suspend or require the relevant authorized regulated market to suspend the listed financial instruments from trading on an authorized regulated market where it considers that the issuer’s situation is such that trading would be detrimental to investors’ interests;

(h) to carry out on-site inspections or investigations at sites other than the private residences of natural persons, and for that purpose to enter premises in order to access documents and other data in any form:

(i) where a reasonable suspicion exists that documents and other data related to the subject-matter of the inspection or investigation may be relevant to prove a breach of the Prospectus Regulation, this Act or any regulations or Capital Markets Rules issued thereunder; and, or

(ii) for the purpose of ensuring compliance of the issuer with continuing obligations in terms of the Prospectus Regulation, this Act or any regulations or Capital Markets Rules issued thereunder;

(i) to request an issuer to re-issue regulated information, to issue a corrective note and, or to reflect a correction in any future regulated information;

(j) to cancel or suspend the registration of a sponsor in such circumstances as may be prescribed.