FIN-FSA appeals Helsinki Administrative Court’s ruling

The Financial Supervisory Authority appeals the Helsinki Administrative Court’s ruling of 21 January 2015 concerning the publishing of preparatory documents. FIN-FSA is of the opinion that documents drawn up by FIN-FSA relating to the approval of a prospectus that is required for listing and documents relating to the monitoring of compliance with international Financial Accounting Standards are secret by virtue of section 24.1 subsection 15 of the of the Act on the Openness of Government Activities.

Only the final prospectus required for listing is public information; not intermediary stages of the prospectus inspection process. Investors’ confidence in the accuracy of information in the markets is best realised when only the final prospectus is available to the markets, on the basis of which investors take their decisions. Information not included in the final prospectus could be likely to mislead investors.

FIN-FSA may require restatement of erroneous financial statements. Such a demand for correction is always public. By contrast, if there is correspondence on financial statements-related issues available in the markets which, when assessed as a whole, are not material for obtaining a true and fair view of the company’s financial performance and financial position, such information could increase uncertainty about the content or quality of financial statements and mislead investors.

For further information, please contact

• Sonja Lohse, Head of General Secretariat, tel. +358 10 831 5311

Appendix

• Appeal against the ruling of the Helsinki Administrative Court concerning the publicity of documents (pdf, in Finnish)

The corresponding news release in Finnish was published on 20 February 2015.