GEN - General - Johannesburg Stock Exchange - Proposed amendment to the

GEN - General - Johannesburg Stock Exchange - Proposed amendment to the         
Listings Requirements dealing with unpublished price sensitive information      
JOHANNESBURG STOCK EXCHANGE - PROPOSED AMENDMENT TO THE LISTINGS REQUIREMENTS   
DEALING WITH UNPUBLISHED PRICE SENSITIVE INFORMATION                            
The JSE issued a letter in June 2011 drawing attention to paragraph 3.5 of the  
Listings Requirements ("the Requirements"). This paragraph clearly prohibits    
the release of price sensitive information to any party before it is released   
on SENS.  The letter was issued after a number of local and international       
incidents where price sensitive information was either prematurely released or  
accessed by certain parties.                                                    
After releasing the letter the JSE was approached by various parties including  
sponsors, listed companies and investor relations practitioners to consider a   
possible amendment that would allow listed companies to share unpublished       
price sensitive information with certain parties prior to releasing it on       
SENS. Although significant justification was provided for a possible            
amendment, the JSE also had to take account of the provisions of the            
Securities Services Act 36 of 2004 ("SSA") before considering an amendment.     
Section 73(3) of the SSA provides, inter alia, that an insider who discloses    
inside information to another person commits an offence. This section does      
however provide a defence under very specific circumstances.                    
The JSE Listings Requirement cannot be in conflict with the SSA and in light    
thereof we are proposing an amendment stipulating that applicant issuers that   
elect to share unpublished price sensitive information, prior to releasing it   
on SENS, must ensure that in doing so they are not committing an offence in     
terms of the SSA.                                                               
The proposed amendment can be obtained on the JSE website www.jse.co.za and is  
now available for public comment. Interested parties can submit their comment   
to Thandekam@jse.co.za by no later than Friday 13 January 2012.                 
25 November 2011                                                                
Date: 25/11/2011 12:00:01 Supplied by www.sharenet.co.za                     
Produced by the JSE SENS Department.