FINANCIAL COMMUNICATION: FRAMEWORK AND PRACTICES - 2019 EDITION

28 8  z FINANCIAL COMMUNICATION LANGUAGE The growing internationalisation of the financial markets with an increasingly wide geographical shareholder base, the listing of several issuers on several markets (multiple listings) and the increase in cross-border transactions are all contributing factors to the greater importance placed on the linguistic treatment of documents containing information disclosed by issuers. The need to translate these documents may be a significant constraint for an issuer or slow their access to foreign financial markets. At the same time, in order to ensure that investors are well informed, it is necessary that information disseminated by an issuer on a foreign financial market be available in a language which is understandable to the investors concerned. In order to favour the movement of capital within the European Union and the European Economic Area while guaranteeing that investors are properly informed, EU law has harmonised the rules governing the language of the various documents published by issuers. The principles laid down within the EU – often expressed in a complex manner – have been transposed by the AMF within its General Regulations. REGULATORY INFORMATION 39 The AMF reiterates that companies governed by French law that decide to use English as the official language of their periodic information are still required to produce their financial statements in French on an annual basis in compliance with legal requirements regarding filing at the competent commercial court 40 . The AMF recommends that the choice of language for periodic information be consistent over the long term and take into consideration its corporate shareholder strategy. Aside from publishing periodic information in English, the AMF also recommends that companies with a shareholder base that is primarily made up of French individual investors publish their periodic information in French 41 . Should the AMF not be the competent authority which controls the regulatory information disclosed by an issuer, and the securities of that issuer are accepted for trading on a French regulated market, regulatory information disclosed in France should be written either in French or in a language commonly used by the financial community. 39 – Article 221-2 of the AMF General Regulations. 40 – AMF Position/ Recommendation no. 2016-05 – Guide to periodic disclosures by companies listed on a regulated market (section 14.1). 41 – AMF Position/ Recommendation no. 2016-05 – Guide to periodic disclosures by companies listed on a regulated market (section 14.1).