It has been agreed by the European Commission and ESMA that the final submission of the Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) for MiFID II and the Market Abuse Regulation(MAR) be delayed by just under 3 months to 30th September 2015. The reason is that ESMA would like to conduct a legal review with the Commission to ensure that the RTS is within mandate.  It is not expected that the implementation date for MiFID II will move from 3rd January 2017. The delay was requested by ESMA in this letter, and agreement came from the Commission in this reply.

The delay is likely to cause more uncertainty for the market, especially as the final deadline has not moved. It means that those in commodities who find themselves under the “full regime” will have even less time to prepare.