Market conduct

The market conduct rules are included in Regulation EU No. 596/2014 on market abuse (‘MAR’) which applies in Norway through a reference to the regulation in Section 3-1 of the Securities Trading Act. See relevant laws and regulations.

Definition of market abuse

MAR defines the following conduct as market abuse and prohibits such conduct:

• Insider dealing
• Market manipulation
• Unlawful disclosure of inside information

In addition, MAR sets out requirements for market participants aimed at, among other things, mitigating the risk of and/or detecting market abuse, as well as promoting greater information symmetry in financial markets, including:

• The obligation to disclose inside information
• The obligation to draw up insider lists
• Obligations related to buy-backs and stabilisation
• Obligations related to market soundings
• Notification obligation for persons discharging managerial responsibilities and persons closely associated with them
• Requirements relating to investment recommendations
• Requirements for the prevention and reporting of suspicious orders and transactions

Regulations other than MAR

Further requirements for market participants' behaviour are also set out in other rules than MAR. These concern, inter alia:

• Mandatory disclosure obligation for large positions
• The obligation to report large net short positions and the prohibition against uncovered short sales

Finanstilsynet supervises participants’ behaviour in the securities market, including their compliance with the requirements and obligations set out in the various regulations. For some types of infringements, Finanstilsynet may impose administrative pecuniary sanctions, while other infringements are reported to the police for criminal sanctions. For more information on sanctioning for infringement of the market conduct rules supervised by Finanstilsynet, see General information about sanctioning for infringement of the market conduct regulations.