European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) Updates for the weeek of November 9-13, 2020

ESMA Published Decision on MiFIR Assessments of Third-Country Trading Venues

On November 9, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a decision of its board of supervisors (held on November 5) on the delegation to the ESMA chair of the assessment of third-country trading venues (TCTVs) under Articles 20 and 21 of the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) (the Decision).

In the Decision, the board of supervisors delegates the responsibility for non-controversial negative assessments of TCTVs to the ESMA chair. The delegation should be implemented in accordance to the criteria described in the ESMA opinion on July 28 and the conditions set out in this Decision.

This Decision repeals and replaces a previous ESMA decision published on September 26, 2018.

The Decision is available here.

ESMA Updates Annex to Opinion Determining Third-Country Trading Venues Under MiFIR

On November 6, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) updated its guidance on the Annex to its opinion determining transparency for third-country trading venues under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) (the Guidance).

The Guidance updates how market identifier codes should be completed where they are not populated (see the October 30, 2020 edition of Corporate & Finance Weekly Digest for the previous update).

The Guidance is available here.

ESMA Publishes Draft Guidelines on MiFIR and MiFID II Market Data Obligations

On November 6, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a consultation paper on draft guidelines on obligations regarding market data under the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation (MiFIR) and Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) (the Consultation Paper).

In the Consultation Paper, ESMA proposes guidelines with the aim to ensure common and consistent application of certain provisions, including providing market data on a reasonable commercial basis and providing market data free of charge 15 minutes after publication under MiFIR and MiFID II. The basis of the Consultation Paper originates from a previous report published by ESMA in December 2019.

The deadline for comments on the Consultation Paper is January 11, 2021. ESMA intends to publish its final review report and final guidelines in the second quarter of 2021.

The Consultation Paper is available here.