The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, has today launched a consultation to gather feedback following changes to the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) and Market in Financial Instruments Directive II (MiFID II) introduced by the Listing Act.

Regarding MAR, ESMA is inviting feedback on:

a non-exhaustive list of the protracted process and the relevant moment of disclosure of the relevant inside information (together with some principles to identify the moment of disclosure for protracted not listed processes).
a non-exhaustive list of examples where there is a contrast between the inside information to be delayed and the latest public announcement by the issuer.
a methodology and preliminary results for identifying trading venues with a significant cross-border dimension, for the purposes of establishing a Cross Market Order Book Mechanism.
Regarding MiFID II, ESMA’s proposals cover:

a systematic review of the relevant provisions in Commision Delegated Regulation 2017/565 to ensure that a Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF) (or a segment of it) to be registered as small and medium-sized enterprises growth market (SME GMs) complies with the relevant requirements in the revised MiFID II.
some conditions to meet the registration requirements for a segment of an MTF, as specified in the revised MiFID II.
In line with the objectives of the Listing Act, ESMA’s technical advice aims at ensuring that the EU’s regulatory framework promotes better access to public capital markets for European Union companies, especially SME’s, by reducing the administrative burden on listed companies or companies that seek a listing, while ensuring integrity and confidence in capital markets.