As part of the Capital Market Authority's ("CMA") strategic objectives to develop the capital market and promote confidence in the capital market's participants, and based on the Capital Market Law issued by Royal Decree No. (M/30) dated 2/6/1424 H, the CMA Board issued its resolution approving the amendments to the Resolution of Securities Disputes Proceedings Regulation (“Amended Regulation") to be effective as of the date of their publication.
The Amended Regulation aims to further improve the proceedings of securities disputes before the Committees for Resolution of Securities Disputes and the procedures that enhance the speed and efficiency of considering and adjudicating lawsuits. The Amended Regulation also aims to develop aspects that would promote confidence in the capital market's participants, support its growth and prosperity, and reaffirm investors' protection.
The main elements of the Amended Regulation are as follows:
- Regulating the procedures for utilizing the Electronic Platform for proceedings before the Committees for Resolution of Securities Disputes in proceedings, including in relation to submitting and filing the statement of claim with the Committee, holding remote hearings, exchanging memoranda, issuing decisions, and appeal decisions.
- Adding a requirement on capital market institutions and listed joint stock companies to be represented by an attorney or legal representative licensed in the Kingdom in all suits to which they are a party, including in filing or litigating suits and in the submission of any requests or memoranda to the Committee or the Appeal Committee.
- Regulating the procedures for submitting incidental petitions, including the right of parties to submit directly to the Committee incidental petitions which are related to the original claim.
Regulating certification of a class-action suit directly by the Committee if a number of existing disputes are identical in terms of the legal bases, alleged facts, and the subject matter of the requests
The CMA Board resolution included that the provisions of the Amended Regulation shall apply to suits that have not been resolved by a final decision and to proceedings not carried out prior to its entry into force, excluding articles amending time limits with respect to the time limits that started prior to the Amended Regulation's entry into force.
This comes after the CMA published the draft Amendments to the Resolution of Securities Disputes Proceedings Regulation on The Unified Electronic Platform for Consulting the Public and Government Entities (Public Consultation Platform) affiliated to the National Competitiveness Center and the CMA's website for public consultation for a period of (30) calendar days.
The amended Resolution of Securities Disputes Proceedings Regulation can be viewed via the following link:
