Article 3 Conditions for trading

In order to benefit from the exemption laid down in Article 5(1) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, transactions relating to buy-back programmes shall meet the following conditions:

1. (a)

   the shares shall be purchased by the issuer on a trading venue where the shares are admitted to trading or traded;

2. (b)

   for shares traded continuously on a trading venue, the orders shall not be placed during an auction phase and the orders placed before the start of the auction phase shall not be modified during that phase;

3. (c)

   for shares traded solely on a trading venue through auctions, the orders shall be placed and modified by the issuer during the auction provided that other market participants have sufficient time to react to them.

In order to benefit from the exemption laid down in Article 5(1) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, issuers shall not, when executing transactions under a buy-back programme, purchase shares at a price higher than the higher of the price of the last independent trade and the highest current independent purchase bid on the trading venue where the purchase is carried out, including when the shares are traded on different trading venues.

In order to benefit from the exemption laid down in Article 5(1) of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, issuers shall not, when executing transactions under a buy-back programme, purchase on any trading day more than 25 % of the average daily volume of the shares on the trading venue on which the purchase is carried out.

For the purposes of the first subparagraph, the average daily volume shall be based on the average daily volume traded during either of the following periods:

1. (a)

   the month preceding the month of the disclosure required under Article 2(1); such a fixed volume shall be referred to in the buy-back programme and apply for the duration of that programme;

2. (b)

   the 20 trading days preceding the date of purchase, where the programme makes no reference to that volume.