The revised Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) and new Regulation (MiFIR) were published yesterday in the
Official Journal and will enter into force on 2 July. This is an
important milestone as it officially starts the countdown to the
2017 go-live date, establishing the various deadlines that firms,
member states, national competent authorities (NCAs) and the
European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) will need to
meet.
But while the so-called level one text is now final, work on the
implementing measures that will underpin it is still in its early
stages. On 22 May 2014, ESMA formally kicked-off the consultation
process on implementing measures, publishing a discussion paper (DP) on technical standards
and a consultation paper (CP) on technical advice.
Together, these documents run to over 800 pages and contain 860
consultation and discussion questions. Finalising the implementing
measures will be one of ESMA's biggest challenges to date.
