The European Commission has adopted a Delegated Regulation and annex supplementing the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (Regulation 600/2014) (“MiFIR“) with regard to regulatory technical standards (“RTS“) relating to clearing access in respect of trading venues and central counterparties (C(2016) 3807 final). The European Securities and Markets Authority (“ESMA“) submitted the draft RTS to the Commission in September 2015. The RTS cover transparency, micro-structural issues, data publication and access, requirements applying on and to trading venues, commodity derivatives, market data reporting, post-trading issues and best execution. The Delegated Regulation will now be considered by the Council of the EU and the European Parliament. If neither of them objects, it will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the EU. The Delegated Regulation will apply from the application date of MiFIR (that is, January 3, 2018) with the exception of Articles 15, 16, 17, 19 and 20, which will apply from the date the Regulation enters into force.
commodity derivatives
ESMA Publishes Guidelines on the Definitions of Commodity Derivatives Under MIFID
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.