21 March 2016

ESMA writes to European Commission on draft MiFID II RTS

ESMA Regulation foresees a certain process in case the Commission wants to endorse a draft RTS in part or with amendments. We note that, having submitted the draft RTS to the Commission on 28 September 2015, the formal deadline stipulated in the ESMA Regulation for the Commission to decide whether to endorse the draft RTS ended already at the end of December 2015. In addition, and contrary to recent previous notifications, we observe that the notification received in this case does not refer to this process foreseen in the ESMA Regulation under Article 10(1), nor does it provide the text of the proposed changes to the RTS. ESMA understands that MiFID is a complex and extraordinary project and being conscious of the considerations around creating legal certainty as soon as possible and achieving a clear basis for the implementation work of MiFID II to start, ESMA takes this as an exceptional case.

We will immediately start our work on an ESMA Opinion on your proposed amendments unless we receive a written reply by 29 March 2016 stating that one or both assumptions above are not correct. We will keep you informed of the exact expected time of issuance of such Opinion.

I would like to ensure you that ESMA intends to proceed swiftly with producing its Opinion. In the interest of a timely implementation of MiFID II as a whole, ESMA also wishes to express its hope that all other pending draft RTS submitted by ESMA on 28 September 2015 in respect of which ESMA has not received any notification thus far can be endorsed by the Commission without undue delay.

Letter – position limits

Letter – ancillary activity

Letter – non-equity transparency

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