Brussels, 29/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 23 June, the European Commission launched a public consultation exercise on the review of the Market Abuse Directive (MAD), 2003/6/EC, which governs market abuses such as insider dealing. The consultation is seeking stakeholders' views in three areas. (1) Extension of the scope of the directive: the subsequent coming into effect of Directive 2004/39/EC on the markets in financial instruments will be taken into account and other securities (for example, credit derived securities, or CDS) traded over the counter and not on a regulated market should also be covered. The definition of “inside information” will be adapted to the specificities of commodity derivatives. (2) Enhancing the powers of competent authorities: these authorities may be granted the power to ask a judge to authorise the seizure of documents and will have to ensure that appropriate sanctions are in place (for example, a temporary ban on issuing securities). (3) The new European Securities Markets Authority (ESMA) could play an important role in cooperation among national supervisors with regard to the exchange, under condition, of some kinds of information or a request for an investigation. ESMA might be able to require a national supervisor to send certain information or to conduct an investigation when a previous request by another national supervisor has been rejected or ignored. It could also coordinate the signing of cooperation agreements with competent authorities in third countries. With a view to creating a body of single rules, the Commission also asks stakeholders about removing options or exemptions which form part of the MAD and which refer, for example, to delays in disclosure of information or acceptable market practices. The annual European threshold above which employees of listed companies must inform a supervisor of transactions conducted on their own account and relating to shares of their own company will be raised from €5,000 to €20,000. The Commission legislative proposal will be brought forward in the autumn. For information, go to: http: //ec.europa.eu/internal_market/consultations/docs/2010/mad/consultation_paper.pdf. (M.B./transl.rt)