The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has begun its consultation process for the implementation of the revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and the new Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR).
MiFID II and MiFIR contain over 100 requirements for ESMA to draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) and implementing technical standards (ITS) and to provide technical advice to the European Commission to allow it to adopt delegated acts. Given this, ESMA has published the following:
- Consultation Paper on MiFID II / MiFIR technical advice; and
- Discussion Paper on MiFID II / MiFIR draft RTS / ITS.
The 311 page Consultation Paper covers the topics on which the European Commission has requested ESMA to provide technical advice, namely: investor protection, transparency, data publication, micro-structural issues, requirements applying on and to trading venues, commodity derivatives and portfolio compression.
The 533 page Discussion Paper covers a selected number of more innovative or technically complex topics. ESMA will consider the responses it receives to the Discussion Paper, and will publish a subsequent Consultation Paper that will include the draft technical standards in the coming months.
The deadline for responding to both papers is 1 August.
ESMA will hold open hearings on the Discussion Paper and Consultation Paper. The hearings will take place on 7 and 8 July 2014 in Paris.
View ESMA consults on MiFID reforms, 22 May 2014
