CAPITAL MARKETS | New procedures related to sanctions: CONSOB launches consultation with the market on the alternative instrument of “commitments”

On 27 January 2025, Consob launched a consultation with the financial market on the proposed amendments to the Consob Regulation on the sanctioning procedure (the Regulation), aimed at implementing the discipline of commitments provided for in Article 196-ter of Legislative Decree no. 58/1998, following the changes introduced by Law No. 21 of 5 March 2024 (so-called Capital Law).

With the provision of commitments, which makes it possible to extinguish the sanctioning proceedings in advance without the imposition of sanctions, Italy has taken another step forward in moving closer to European countries that already provided for alternative settlement mechanisms for sanctioning proceedings. The proposed amendments to the Regulation aim at providing a “guide for use” of the new instrument, by defining: (a) the deadlines and modalities to be followed for the submission of a commitment proposal, (b) the admissibility and acceptability assessment of the proposal, (c) the decisional phase in which Consob is called upon to assess the commitment proposal, (d)  the discipline of cases of non-compliance with the commitments made binding, and (e) the cases in which the sanctioning procedure may be reopened.

The consultation ended on 26 February 2025.

Newsletter n. 104 – February 2025