A letter from the European Commission Vice President was published on June 22, 2018 which sought to clarify the exemption found in Article 2(1)(j) of the MiFID II Directive (the “Exemption“).

The Exemption states that the regulated activities of dealing on own account and providing investment services in relation to commodity derivatives will be exempt from the rules contained in the MiFID II Directive provided that the activities are “ancillary” to the main business.

The letter, addressed to Steven Maijoor, stated that in establishing if the Exemption applies, the MiFID activities that the person is engaged in will be compared with the commercial activities of the person or group which the person forms. This therefore accounts for varying commercial structures whereby business activities of a group may be separated into different legal entities.

The full letter explaining the Exemption and when this applies, is available here.