As widely expected, the European Commission has today officially announced a one-year extension to the entry into application of MiFID II. The proposal “amending Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments as regards certain dates” will now have to be formally endorsed by both the Council and the European Parliament, most probably in a simplified procedure.
The new deadline is 3 January 2018. The Commission notes that “this extension will not have an impact on the timeline for adoption of the 'level II' implementing measures under MiFID II/MiFIR.” The Commission intends to “proceed with their adoption irrespective of the new date of entry into application of MiFID II.”
The Commission said the delay would be to “take account of the exceptional technical implementation challenges faced by regulators and market participants.”
