ESMA Consultation on MAR Guidelines for Delaying Inside Information Disclosure

ESMA Consultations

Published February 19th, 2026

Detected March 14th, 2026

Summary

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has launched a consultation on new Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) guidelines concerning the delay in disclosing inside information. The consultation period runs until April 29, 2026, and is open to all interested stakeholders.

View original document View source feed page

What changed

ESMA has issued a consultation paper proposing new guidelines under the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) to clarify when and how issuers can delay the disclosure of inside information. This initiative aims to harmonize the application of MAR provisions across the EU and provide clearer guidance to market participants, particularly issuers and trading venues, on managing sensitive information.

Interested parties, including issuers (SMEs included), trading venues, trade associations, investors, consultants, and academics, are invited to submit comments by April 29, 2026. The feedback will help ESMA finalize these guidelines. While this is a consultation and thus non-binding, adherence to emerging guidance is crucial for compliance with MAR to avoid potential scrutiny or enforcement actions related to market abuse.

What to do next

Review the ESMA consultation paper on MAR Guidelines for delaying inside information disclosure.
Submit comments and feedback to ESMA by April 29, 2026.
Assess current internal policies and procedures for handling inside information in light of the proposed guidelines.

Source document (simplified)

Consultation on MAR Guidelines on delay in the disclosure of inside information

From

19 February 2026

29 April 2026

Respond Market Abuse Market Integrity Details

Responding to this paper

ESMA invites comments on all matters in this paper and in particular on the specific questions summarised in Annex 1. Comments are most helpful if they:

respond to the question stated;
indicate the specific question to which the comment relates;
contain a clear rationale; and
describe any alternatives ESMA should consider. ESMA will consider all comments received by 29 April 2026.

All contributions should be submitted online using the provided reply form in .docx format.

Publication of responses

All contributions received will be published following the close of the consultation, unless you request otherwise. Please clearly and prominently indicate in your submission any part you do not wish to be publicly disclosed. A standard confidentiality statement in an email message will not be treated as a request for non-disclosure. A confidential response may be requested from us in accordance with ESMA’s rules on access to documents. We may consult you if we receive such a request. Any decision we make not to disclose the response is reviewable by ESMA’s Board of Appeal and the European Ombudsman.

Data protection

Personal data contained in the file will be published as submitted. If you don't wish such personal data to be publicly available, you should not include personal data within the document you upload to a public consultation. Alternatively, you may choose the option to not have your response published on the ESMA website. For further details on data processing, please refer to the record register.

Information on data protection can be found in the Legal Notice and Data Protection section.

Who should read this paper?

All interested stakeholders are invited to respond to this consultation paper. This consultation paper is of primary interest to issuers, including SMEs, and trading venues, but responses are also sought from any other market participant including trade associations and industry bodies, institutional and retail investors, consultants and academics.

Response Form

Activity - None - Asset Management Data Reporting Services Providers (DRSPs) Banking Central Counterparty (CCP) Central Securities Depository (CSD) Credit Rating Agencies Fintech Government, Regulatory and Enforcement Individuals Insurance and Pension Investment Services Investor Relations Issuers Legal and Accountancy Press Sovereign Issuers Others Trade Repository Regulated markets, exchanges and trading systems Institution First name Surname Email Attach files to this response to a consultation Personal data contained in the file will be published as submitted. If you don't wish such personal data to be publicly available, you should not include personal data within the document you upload to a public consultation. Alternatively, you may choose the option to not have your response published on the ESMA website. For further details on data processing, please refer to the record register. Format and size Maximum 5 files.
200 MB limit.
Allowed types: pdf, txt, doc, docx, xls, xlsx, ppt, pptx, pps, ppsx, odt, ods, odp. I do not wish to have my response published on the ESMA website Please check this box if you wish that your response is treated as confidential. The response will not be made publicly available through ESMA website. This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.