Market Abuse Regulation (MAR)
The EU regulation prohibiting insider dealing, unlawful disclosure of inside information and market manipulation - applicable to financial instruments and, via MiCA, to crypto-assets.
Scope
MAR (Regulation (EU) 596/2014, in force since 3 July 2016) prohibits three core conducts: insider dealing, unlawful disclosure of inside information, and market manipulation. It applies to financial instruments admitted to trading on any EU venue, to spot commodity contracts (where relevant), and - through MiCA Title VI - to crypto-assets.
Operational obligations
- Insider lists (Article 18) maintained by issuers.
- Managers' transactions disclosure (Article 19) within 3 business days.
- Public disclosure of inside information by issuers (Article 17).
- STOR filing (Article 16) by persons professionally arranging or executing transactions.
Penalties
Administrative fines under MAR can reach €5m or 15% of annual turnover for legal persons; criminal sanctions under CSMAD (Directive 2014/57/EU) apply in transposition. National competent authorities have been notably more aggressive on MAR enforcement since 2022.
Crypto extension
MiCA Title VI replicates the MAR architecture (insider dealing, unlawful disclosure, market manipulation) for crypto-assets, with adjustments - most notably the absence of a regulated-issuer concept for many tokens and a different definition of inside information.