| (1) | (a) | (i) | A listed issuer or a new applicant which is obliged to publish any announcement or notice under the Exchange Listing Rules must submit through HKEx-EPS a ready-to-publish electronic copy of the document to the Exchange for publication on the Exchange's website.
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| | | (ii) | [Repealed 31 December 2023]
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| | | (iii) | All announcements or notices which are published in the newspapers by an issuer pursuant to these Exchange Listing Rules must be clearly presented, use legible font size and paragraph spacing and state that it is available for viewing on the Exchange's website and the issuer's own website giving details as to where on these websites it is to be found (to the fullest extent known at the time of publication of the announcement or notice).
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| | | (iv) | Where a listed issuer requests a trading halt or suspension of trading in its securities and the trading halt or suspension has been effected, the listed issuer must immediately submit through HKEx-EPS to the Exchange for publication on the Exchange's website a ready-to-publish electronic copy of an announcement informing that trading in the securities of the listed issuer has been halted or suspended and setting out briefly the reason for the trading halt or suspension.
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| | (b) | (i) | Other than where a prospectus is to be registered under the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance, a listed issuer or new applicant must submit to the Exchange through HKEx-EPS for publication on the Exchange's website a ready-to-publish electronic copy of any corporate communication which is required by the Exchange Listing Rules (including any listing document of a listed issuer or new applicant which is not to be registered under the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance). The electronic copy must be received by the Exchange and published on the Exchange’s website not later than the time when it is sent or otherwise made available to holders of the securities by the listed issuer or distributed to the public in the case of a new applicant.
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| | | (ii) | Where a prospectus is to be registered under the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance, the listed issuer or new applicant must submit to the Exchange through HKEx-EPS for publication on the Exchange's website a ready-to-publish electronic copy of each of the prospectus and any application forms. The copies must be submitted to the Exchange at the same time as they are sent to shareholders by the listed issuer or, in the case of a new applicant, their distribution to the public commences. They must be submitted only after the issuer has received the letter from the Companies Registry confirming registration of the prospectus under the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance.
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| | | Notes: |
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| | | 1 | Regard must be had to the operating hours of HKEx-EPS from time to time.
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| | | 2 | Issuers must accordingly bear in mind the time required to comment on and clear the form of any document so as to be able to submit the ready-to-publish electronic copy to the Exchange by the stipulated deadline.
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| | | 3 | An issuer must ensure that any document submitted for publication has been duly authorised by the issuer and is the same as (where the document is required to be registered under the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance) the version registered with the Companies Registry, or (where the document is required to be cleared by the Exchange prior to publication under the Exchange Listing Rules) the version cleared by the Exchange.
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| (2) | All electronic copies of documents submitted by an issuer through HKEx-EPS to the Exchange for publication on the Exchange's website must be virus-free with all words being text-searchable and the document printable. The layout and contents of each page on the electronic copy of the documents submitted to the Exchange for publication on the Exchange's website must be the same as the layout and contents of the corresponding page of the document as published by the issuer (whether in the newspapers, on its own website, as sent to shareholders or otherwise).
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| (3) | When submitting a document through HKEx-EPS for publication on the Exchange’s website, the issuer must select all such headlines as may be appropriate from the list of headlines set out in the “Headline Categories” published on the Exchange’s website (which is also displayed in HKEx-EPS) and input into the designated freetext field in HKEx-EPS the same title as appears in the document. The Listing Committee has delegated to the Executive Director – Listing the power to approve such amendments to the “Headline Categories” as he may consider necessary or desirable.
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| (4) | (a) | Announcement or notice must not be published on the Exchange's website:
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| | | - | between 8:30 a.m. and 12:00 noon and between 12:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. on a business day; and
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| | | - | between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. on the eves of Christmas, New Year and the Lunar New Year when there is no afternoon session,
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| | | except for:
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| | | (i) | [Repealed 10 March 2008];
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| | | (ii) | announcements made solely under rule 2.07C(1)(a)(iv);
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| | | (iii) | announcements made solely under rule 13.10B or 37.48(b), or paragraph 1(2) of Appendix E4 or paragraph 1(2) of Appendix E5; or
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| | | (iv) | announcements made in response to the Exchange’s enquiries of the issuer under rule 13.10 or 37.46A, paragraph 15 of Appendix E3, or paragraph 27 of Appendix E4 or paragraph 26 of Appendix E5 if in the announcement the issuer only provides the negative confirmations required under rule 13.10(2) or 37.46A(b), or paragraph 15 of Appendix E3, or paragraph 27(2) of Appendix E4, or paragraph 26(2) of Appendix E5, or refers to its previously published information;
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| | | (v) | announcements made in response to media news or reports under rule 13.09(1) or 37.47(b), paragraph 6(3) of Appendix E3 or paragraph 1(1)(a) of Appendix E4 or paragraph 1(1)(a) of Appendix E5 if in the announcement the issuer only denies the accuracy of such news or reports and/or clarifies that only its previously published information should be relied upon; and
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| | | (vi) | announcements relating to suspension and resumption of a Mixed Media Offer applicable to public offers of equity securities, CIS and debt securities (see rules 12.11A, 20.19A and 25.19B).
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| | | Note: | The Exchange may consider an application for a waiver from strict compliance with rule 2.07C(4)(a) for issuers with, or seeking, a dual primary listing or a secondary listing, subject to the conditions that:‒
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| | | (a) | the issuer discloses in the listing document a clear indication of the impact of the waiver on potential investors;
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| | | (b) | the issuer shall inform the Exchange, in the first instance, in the event of any material change being made to the overseas regime on the disclosure of inside/ price sensitive information;
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| | | (c) | there is a minimal overlap between Hong Kong market hours and that of the overseas exchange(s) on which the issuer’s securities are also traded;
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| | | (d) | the issuer notifies the Exchange of a pending announcement and the expected time of release (of both English and Chinese versions) at least ten minutes before the release; and
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| | | (e) | the announcement shall be in relation to inside/ price sensitive information and the issuer is required, for reasons not within its control, under the overseas regime to publish such announcement within the period prohibited under rule 2.07C(4)(a).
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| | (b) | Any publication by an issuer pursuant to this rule 2.07C must be made in both the English and Chinese language unless otherwise stated.
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| | | Note: | This paragraph does not apply to documents to be published on the Exchange’s website and the issuer’s own website pursuant to rule 4.14, rule 5.01B(1)(b), rule 5.02B(2)(b), rule 15A.21(4), rule 17.02(2), rule 19.10(5)(e), rule 19.10(6), rule 19C.10B(3), rule 19A.27(4), rule 19A.50, rule 29.09, rule 36.08(3), paragraph 53 of Appendix D1A, paragraph 43 of Appendix D1B, paragraph 54 of Appendix D1C, paragraphs 12 and 27 of Appendix D1D, paragraph 76 of Appendix D1E, paragraph 66 of Appendix D1F, paragraph 9(b)(i) of Appendix A2 and paragraphs 5 and 15 of Appendix E5.
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| | (c) | Subject to rule 2.07C(4)(d), where a document is required to be published in both the English and Chinese language, the issuer must submit the ready-to-publish electronic copy of both the English and Chinese versions of that document together to the Exchange for publication on the Exchange's website.
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| | (d) | In the case of the English and Chinese versions of a listing document or annual report submitted by an issuer to the Exchange for publication on the Exchange's website, the issuer must submit the ready-to-publish electronic copy of one version immediately after submission of the other version.
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| (5) | Issuers must comply with such requirements as the Exchange may from time to time determine and promulgate with regard to format, timing, procedure or otherwise for publication and submission of documents to the Exchange.
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| | Notes:
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| | (1) | The Exchange accepts no responsibility for any defects in the content or format of any document submitted for publication on the Exchange's website and accepts no responsibility for any delay or failure in publication. It is the sole responsibility of the issuer to ensure that all material submitted by it or on its behalf for publication on the Exchange's website is accurate.
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| | (2) | Where the Exchange Listing Rules require submission of a document or information electronically the Exchange consents to the receipt of such document or information in the form of an electronic record.
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| | (3) | By making a submission required under the Rules to the Exchange, the submitter (whether acting in its own capacity or on behalf of a person) would be deemed to have represented and warranted to the Exchange that the submission has been duly authorised and, if so required by the Rules, also duly and validly executed (whether by itself or by the person on behalf of which the submission is made). Where the submission is made by electronic means, the submitter would also be deemed to have represented and warranted to the Exchange that the submission is not prohibited from being made to the Exchange and/or the Commission by electronic means under all applicable laws and regulations of the place of incorporation, or the constitutional documents, of the person on behalf of which the submission is made.
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| (6) | (a) | Every issuer must have its own website on which it must publish any announcement, notice or other document published under rule 2.07C on the Exchange's website. The publication should be at the same time as publication of the electronic copy of the document on the Exchange's website. A new applicant is not required to publish an Application Proof, OC Announcement or Post Hearing Information Pack on its own website. In any event:
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| | | (i) | where the electronic copy of the document is published after 7:00 p.m. on the Exchange's website, publication on the issuer's own website must not be later than 8:30 a.m. on the business day next following such publication; and
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| | | (ii) | where the electronic copy of the document is published at any other time on the Exchange's website, publication on the issuer's own website must not be later than 1 hour after such publication.
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| | | Note: | The issuer's website does not need to be hosted on a domain owned or maintained by the issuer. The issuer's website may be hosted on a third-party domain so long as the website is assigned a dedicated location on the Worldwide Web and the issuer's website may be managed by a third-party on behalf of the issuer.
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| | (b) | The issuer must ensure that any document published on its website pursuant to these Exchange Listing Rules remains available on its website on a continuous basis for at least 5 years from the date of first publication. The public must be able to access these documents on the website free of charge.
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| | (c) | [Repealed 1 January 2013]
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