The Market Abuse Directive due to come into force next week will place new disclosure obligations on anyone publishing recommendations about investments in traded securities, including members of the media.
However, this aspect of the directive will not come into effect until October along with sections covering the drawing up of insider lists and reporting transaction by investment mangers.
Once the reporting measures come into effect the identity of the author of any article recommending listed investments such as shares will have to be disclosed along with any conflicts of interest. As a rule this will mean any investment in the share in question of more than €7,500.
The regulations will also cover the dissemination of third party recommendations, such as research reports compiled by stockbrokers, by the media.
The identity of the person disseminating the research will have to be disclosed and any reporting of such recommendations will have to meet minimum standards of clarity.
The legislation allows for the exemption of the media from a bulk of the directive provided the Irish Financial Services Regulator deems the media outlet or the journalist to be subject to an adequate regime of self regulation.
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