Today, the Council formally endorsed a one-year delay for MiFID II and MiFIR at the ECOFIN meeting – this was the last procedural step before the amendments can be published in the EU Official Journal (OJ), which should happen in the coming days. The Council’s press release can be accessed here.
Under the new regulation:
- The deadline for the member states to transpose MIFID II into national legislation is set for 3 July 2017;
- The date of application of both MIFID II and MIFIR is set for 3 January 2018; and
- The new regulation also includes amendments as concerns trading on own accounts, package transactions, alignment with the EU directive on securities financing transactions and the date of application of certain provisions of a regulation on market abuse.
Both MiFID II and MiFIR were to become applicable 30 months after entry into force, i.e. as of 3 January 2017, with member states having to transpose MIFID II by 3 July 2016. However, due to technical implementation challenges faced by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) and by national competent authorities, essential data infrastructures will not be in place by 3 January 2017. A delay was therefore unavoidable due to technical implementation challenges.
