On November 25, the European Commission (EC) released a proposed regulation establishing a European single Access Point (ESAP) that will provide investors with seamless access to centralised public financial and sustainability-related company information. This would allow investors to make informed decisions.

Part of the Capital Markets Union (CMU) action plan, ESAP will amongst others:

• Provide a web portal with a user-friendly interface in all the official languages of the Union including functionalities such as API, search function in all official languages in the Union, an information viewer; a notification service informing users of any new information in the portal. The search function should be done using metadata such as the name of the entity, the legal entity identifier (LEI).

• Enable anyone to have direct and immediate access free of charge to the information available in the portal. Some fees may be applicable in certain circumstances (e.g., searching for a very large volume of information). This includes access to information relevant to financial services and capital markets that is made public on a voluntary basis.

• Allow investors, market participants, advisors and the public at large to obtain other non-financial information that an entity wants to make accessible.

• Allow the use and re-use of information accessible on ESAP and this in accordance with the existing regulatory requirements.

The information will be collected by collection bodies designated for the purpose of collecting the information and whose list would be included on the ESAP portal by ESMA.

Entities would need to provide the required information in a data extractable format or a machine-readable format and by complying with the principle of data minimisation to ensure that personal data are not included, subject to exceptions.

The EU Commission's proposal is currently under review by the EU Parliament and the Council of the EU.