On February 2nd, the European Commission presented its formal drafts, or ‘Level 2’ measures, to the European Parliament and the European Securities Committee (ESC) for a series of technical measures implementing the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).
The MiFID is one of the corner stones of the Financial Services Action Plan which seeks to create a single market for financial services in Europe and is also a response to structural changes in the European securities markets.
The proposed measures will make operational the principles set out in the ‘Level 1’ Directive, which were adopted in April 2004.
The European Parliament and the European Securities Committee (ESC) will examine the proposals over the next three months. Following the vote in the ESC, the European Parliament will have a one-month period to check that the limits set in the ‘Level 1’ Directive have been respected, before the measures are adopted by the Commission, probably during summer 2006.
The recently approved extension Directive will push back the application date for the ‘Level 1’ Directive to November 2007. This is to allow firms to make the necessary preparations.
The formal drafts are available at: http://europa.eu.int/ comm/internal_market/securities/isd/mifid2_en.htm
See also page 4. |
