ESMA consultation – alignment of MiFIR with changes from EMIR Refit

ESMA Consultation: alignment of MiFIR with the changes introduced by EMIR Refit

Background

• Consultation Paper Alignment of MiFIR with the changes introduced by EMIR Refit
• Published by ESMA on 4 October 2019
• This document is of interest mainly to financial and non-financial counterparties which are subject to the trading obligation under MiFIR and/or to the clearing obligation under EMIR.
• Under EMIR Refit, the European Commission has prepared a report assessing the necessity and appropriateness of aligning the trading obligation for derivatives under MiFIR with changes made under EMIR Refit to the clearing obligation for derivatives.
• This concerns, in particular, the scope of the entities that are subject to the clearing obligation. That report shall be submitted to the European Parliament and to the Council, together with any appropriate proposals, by 18 December 2020, on the basis of a report by ESMA to be submitted to the Commission by 18 May 2020.
• This consultation paper is seeking stakeholders’ view on the assessment and the proposals that ESMA intends to make in the context of that report.

Impacts

(Section 2) the background to this report

(Section 3) the amendments made under EMIR Refit that have an impact on the application of the derivatives trading obligation under MiFIR

(Section 4) the short-term solution adopted by ESMA to address the misalignment of the scope of entities subject to the clearing and the trading obligations on a temporary basis.

(Section 5) the merits and drawbacks of aligning the scope of counterparties subject to the clearing and the trading obligations.

(Section 6) other changes to MiFIR that could be proposed in the context of the changes introduced by EMIR Refit

Timeline with relevant dates to be logged on regulatory calendar

• ESMA Consultation opens on 4 October 2019
• ESMA Consultation closes on 22 November 2019

Next steps

ESMA will develop the final report taking into consideration the feedback received to this consultation paper.

ESMA intends to submit the final report to the Commission in early 2020.