come evolve la petizione?
Viene categorizzata con status "sostegno non consentito". Come facciamo a supportarla?
In data 21 ho ricevuto la risposta alla petizione. Penso l'abbiano fatta scrivere al primo stagista di passaggio perchè, come al solito, non hanno capito che, oltre alle problematiche che coinvolgono i titoli e le azioni sotto giurisdizione russa con le problematiche connesse alla sanzionata NSD, in molti altri casi parliamo di titoli soggetti al diritto europeo o inglese o statunitense. Sono sconfortato ! Di seguito il testo della risposta:
Petitions
0379/2023 and 0396/2023
The Commission’s observations
In response to Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the EU has imposed unprecedented sanctions to weaken the Russian government’s ability to finance its war. Among these sanctions is the designation of the National Settlement Depository (“NSD”) on 3 June 2022. Therefore and in accordance with Article 2 of Council (EU) Regulation 269/2014, all European economic operators shall freeze all funds and economic resources belonging to the NSD, or to natural or legal persons, entities or bodies associated with it, as well as all funds and economic resources owned, held or controlled by such natural or legal persons, entities or bodies. Furthermore, no funds or economic resources shall be made available, directly or indirectly, to natural or legal persons, entities or bodies, or to natural or legal persons, entities or bodies associated with the NSD.The NSD has been sanctioned as a result of the support it provides to the Russian Government in its activities, policies and resources, as it plays an essential role in the functioning of Russia’s financial system and its connection to the international financial system.
In return, the Russian authorities have decided to adopt several measures to decouple the Russian financial market from the Western financial markets, including:
Presidential Decree No. 95 of March 5, 2022 requires Russian financial institutions to segregate Russian securities held by Western investors into so-called "C-accounts", where a limited range of transactions is possible for Western investors;
Federal Law No. 114 of April 16, 2022 prohibits Russian issuers from having their shares traded outside Russia, including via depositary receipts, and requires the termination of such programs.
Therefore, while the EU sanctions are designed to maximise the negative impact for the Russian economy while limiting the consequences for EU businesses and citizens, Russia has unilaterally decided to take countermeasures against assets considered to belong to "unfriendly states".
As a consequence, EU investors are being prevented from selling those securities and now, due the strengthening of these countermeasures, from getting dividends as they can only be paid via a Russian bank to which Europeans investors do not anymore have access.
With regard to Gazprom securities, this entity has not been designated under Council (EU) Regulation 269/2014
[1]. However, the benefits related to these securities issued in Russia, where the company is incorporated, transit through the NSD. For this reason, these benefits are frozen within the European central securities depositories, Euroclear and Clearstream. Some of EU allies, outside Europe have not designated the NSD, therefore transactions remain possible with this entity while prohibited in EU jurisdiction.
Conclusion
The petitioners raised two main issues : (i) the impossibility of selling, transferring or benefiting from securities (coupons, dividends) with Russian underlying, even if they were acquired before the invasion of Ukraine ; (ii) difficulties in collecting dividends linked to Gazprom shares, even if the entity is not sanctioned, because these dividends are blocked by European Central Securities Depositories, whereas this is not the case in Switzerland.
On the first point, the Commission is aware of the impact of the Russian countermeasures on European investors with financial exposure to the Russian market, which began before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. To address this situation, the Council has adopted various derogations allowing European investors to withdraw from the Russian market.
Council (EU) Regulation 269/2014 was revised on 6 October 2022 to introduce a new derogation under Article 6b(5). This derogation, which was part of a divestment rationale, offered European investors the opportunity to withdraw from the Russian market, until 7 January 2023.
The difficulties European investors face are related to the impact of Russian counter measures. EU investors are now being considered as belonging to an ‘unfriendly State” by Russia with limited possibilities to exit the Russian market.
For the European Union, a new derogation has recently been added in Council (EU) Regulation 269/2014 following the adoption of the 11th package of sanctions. This derogation is targeted and aims at allowing, for EU investors, the conversion of their depositary receipts with underlying Russian shares held by the NSD, followed by their sale to non-designated entities. By creating the necessary conditions to sale their depositary receipts, this derogation gives European investors a second opportunity to withdraw from the Russian market and thereby limiting their exposure to Russian counter-measures.
On the second point, regarding Gazprom securities, it is possible to obtain the unfreezing of benefits (dividends, coupons) related to this entity, provided that this unfreezing will not make funds or economic resources available, directly or indirectly to any other designated person, on the basis of Article 6 of Council (EU) regulation 269/2014.
The petitioners should therefore ask their financial institution to make the relevant request to the national competent authority where the European central securities depositories are incorporated, to obtain an authorisation to unfreeze the funds. The list of national competent authorities can be found here:
https://finance.ec.europa.eu/system...t-authorities-sanctions-implementation_en.pdf
[1] OJ L 78, 17.3.2014, p. 6–15, current consolidated version at
https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02014R0269-20230728
