On May 6, 2015, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published guidelines (ESMA/2015/675) on the definitions of commodity derivatives and their classification under C6 and C7 listed in Section C of Annex 1 to the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (2004/39/EC) (MiFID).

The guidelines will apply to national competent authorities from August 7, 2015 and are intended to apply until the MiFID II Directive comes into force on January 3, 2017. The guidelines will clarify the definitions by specifying, in particular, what is meant by “physically settled” and confirming that forwards traded on a regulated market or multilateral trading facility (MTF) fall within the scope of MiFID.