On 17 July 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published an opinion providing guidance on pre-trade transparency waiver for equity and non-equity instruments. The opinion replaces the earlier guidance from the Committee of European Securities Regulators and ESMA’s opinions on waivers from pre-trade transparency under MiFID II.

The guidance provides market participants with information on ESMA’s assessment of features frequently encountered in the context of issuing opinions on waivers from pre-trade transparency over the last three years. Over the last three years, ESMA has assessed more than 900 notifications for waivers from pre-trade transparency for equity and non-equity instruments.

The opinion covers:

• Large-in-scale waiver – equity and non-equity instruments.
• Order management facility waiver – equity and non-equity instruments.
• Negotiated transactions waiver – equity instruments.
• Size specific to the financial instrument waivers – non-equity instruments.
• Combination of waivers – equity and non-equity instruments.
• Applying for a pre-trade transparency waiver.