On 8 August 2025, the European Commission published for comment a draft Delegated Regulation amending Delegated Regulation 2017/567 as regards the obligation to provide market data on a reasonable commercial basis, the determination of what constitutes a liquid market for equity instruments, and the definition of and disclosure for post-trade risk reduction services.

The Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) was amended by Regulation (EU) No 2024/791 (MiFIR review).The MiFIR review removed the main obstacles to the creation of three consolidated tapes (CTs), one for each of the following asset classes: bonds, shares and exchange-traded funds, and over-the-counter derivatives. The MiFIR review also enhanced transparency and increased competitiveness of EU markets in the global landscape. Since the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) also contains provisions on the CTs and transparency, Directive (EU) 2024/790 amended MiFID II in parallel with the MiFIR review.  Both amending acts were published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 8 March 2024 and entered into force on 28 March 2024.

The purpose of the draft Delegated Regulation is to reflect and implement the amendments to MiFIR and MiFID II in Delegated Regulation 2017/567 so that it achieves the following objectives:

  • Amend the provisions relating to the determination of what constitutes a ‘liquid market’ for the purposes of Articles 4, 5 and 14 of MiFIR by replacing the ‘free float’ criterion with the ‘market capitalisation’ criterion, in line with the amendments to the definition of ‘liquid market’ laid down in MiFIR and clarify certain other issues around the liquidity assessment for equity instruments.
  • Delete provisions that clarify what constitutes a ‘reasonable commercial basis’ for trading venues and systematic internalisers. This follows from the changes introduced to Article 13 of MiFIR and the introduction of a new empowerment for the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to develop draft regulatory technical standards to specify the concept of ‘reasonable commercial basis’.
  • Delete the provision which specifies the size specific to the financial instrument for the purposes of the requirements applicable to systematic internalisers in respect of non-equity instruments. This follows from the deletion of pre-trade transparency requirements for systematic internalisers in respect of non-equity instruments.
  • Specify what constitutes post-trade risk reduction services for the purposes of the exemption laid down in Article 31(1) MiFIR. This is without prejudice to a future further exercise of the mandate under Article 31(4) MiFIR, following the delivery of a technical advice by ESMA.
  • Delete publication requirements for portfolio compression services. This follows from the deletion of the obligation for investment firms and market operators who provide portfolio compression services to make public through an approved publication arrangements the volumes of transactions subject to portfolio compressions and the time they were concluded.

The deadline for comments on the draft Delegated Regulation is 5 September 2025.