Preliminary investigation / Investigation

No preliminary investigation / Direct Comment Letter

If a risk-oriented review of the financial statements gives no justifiable cause for the initiation of a preliminary investigation on the part of SIX Exchange Regulation the issuer will be notified of that fact by means of a 'Direct Comment Letter'. It is possible that the 'Direct Comment Letter' also includes recommendations on how the quality of the financial reports can be improved.

Preliminary investigation

A preliminary investigation will be initiated if there are indications of a possible violation of the applicable financial reporting requirements. Preliminary investigations are conducted in writing by SIX Exchange Regulation and involve questions on the part of the responsible financial reporting specialists that must be answered by an established deadline (Art. 2.4 RP). Upon justified request, a one-time extension of this deadline is possible.

Investigation

If there is suspicion of a violation of the applicable financial reporting requirements that justifies a sanction, SIX Exchange Regulation will initiate an investigation. In the area of financial reporting, such investigations are confidential and, as a fundamental rule, no communications are made to the public. Reserved in this regard is the subsequent publication of the fact that an investigation has been initiated if in so doing the related proceeding can be accelerated.

Comment Letter

The findings of a preliminary investigation or an investigation, provided they do not pertain to violations that justify a sanction, will be made available to the issuer in writing by means of a "Comment Letters". As a part of this, SIX Exchange Regulation will differentiate between recommended and expected changes to the issuer's future financial reports. In addition, the determinations included in "Comment Letters" amendments will be summarized and published in an annually revised IFRS Circular.