Brussels, 20/07/2005 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has proposed a new Directive extending by six months (until 30 October 2006) the deadline by which Member States must write into national law Directive 2004/39/EC on markets in financial instruments (“MiFID”), previously known as the Investment Services Directive. The proposal also gives firms and markets another six months (until 30 April 2007) to adapt their structures and procedures to the new requirements. Meanwhile, the Commission is inviting comments on its fourth working document on implementing legislation for MiFID. Comments should be sent in by 15 September on the working document, looking at the definitions of investment advice, derivatives, rules of conduct, duty of best practice, client order processing rules and eligible counterparts.
Consultation on the third working document on MiFID on some of the proposed implementing measures, in particular: client order handling rules; pre- and post-trade transparency rules for financial institutions executing securities trades internally and equivalent rules for regulated markets and Multilateral Trading Facilities (MTFs); and requirements for regulated markets to have clear and transparent rules regarding the admission of financial instruments to trading will close on 16 August 2005 (see EUROPE 8975).