Document Submission

Yes. The maximum number of characters permitted is 500 for both English and Chinese titles.

The submitter can set a self-defined passcode to ensure the submission information can only be accessible by the users who have possession of the self-defined passcode which provides an additional level of access control. This is an optional field.

ESS users should make these passcodes available to those users who need to access to submissions for publication according to its own internal control procedure.

No. The self-defined passcode will be removed automatically once the submission is approved.

Yes. Once you have inputted the submission details (with or without uploading files), you can save the submission (by clicking “Save”) for later editing.

No. You should notify your approver to reject the submission. After the submission has been rejected, you can retrieve the submission for amendment. For avoidance of doubt, the approved submission cannot be amended.

After clicking “Submit” button, it means the submitter has completed preparation of a submission and has the submission saved in ESS. Note that the submission at this stage still requires approval from the approver in order to submit it for publication on the HKEXnews website.

After clicking “Submit and Approve” button, it means the submitter has completed preparation of a submission and is waiting for an immediate approval from the approver in order to submit it for publication on the HKEXnews website.

If the submission has been approved successfully, an acknowledgement page with status “Approved” will be displayed. You should note the submission number shown on the page for future reference. You may also print this acknowledgement page for record.

ESS is not designed to be a repository of submissions. However, you can retrieve a past submission via the “View Submission History” function. If the documents had not been published yet, you could access or edit the submission details/files for past 30 days. If the documents had been published, you could only retrieve their submission records for past 120 days (past 365 days for published announcement forms, Return e-Forms and documents on display).

HKEX systems should not, for technical reasons, reject a submission prior to its release on the HKEXnews website if it has been successfully approved on ESS. However, if such an exception occurs HKEX will immediately contact the relevant issuer by telephone and may ask the issuer to re-submit the document after it rectifies the reason for its rejection. Please note that a submission will not be rejected due to its textual content.

HKEX will not vet announcements, notices or documents submitted via ESS prior to their publication. If an announcement requires pre-vetting by the Listing Division, an issuer must not submit that announcement for publication until clearance has been obtained.

The submission template is a specific function for structured products issuers. When submission template is applied, all submission detail fields will be filled according to the template, thus the review step in the submission process will be skipped.

Administrator of structured products issuers can create up to 12 submission templates. For detail instruction, please refer to the User Manual for Authorised Person, Administrator, Security Officer and DI Users.

No. Prior to publication the non-listed company’s announcement will only be accessible on ESS to the non-listed company and its agent, if an agent has made the submission for publication on the non-listed company’s behalf.