In December 2022, ESMA published new guidelines and Q&As regarding Regulation (EU) 2022/858 of 30 May 2022 on a pilot regime (the "DLT Pilot Regime") for market infrastructures based on distributed ledger technology (DLT) (the "DLT Pilot Regime Regulation"). On 15 December 2022, ESMA published its final report including guidelines on standard templates, forms and formats to apply for permission to operate a DLT market infrastructure (the "Final Report"). On 16 December 2022, ESMA published for the first time questions and answers on the implementation of the DLT Pilot Regime Regulation (“Q&A”).
Final Report
The guidelines contained within the Final Report include templates to be used by market participants to apply for specific permission to operate any type of DLT market infrastructure (i.e. a DLT multilateral trading facility (MTF), a DLT settlement system or a DLT trading and settlement system) under the DLT Pilot Regime Regulation. The guidelines also include templates for the applicant operators of DLT market infrastructures to request limited exemptions from specific requirements under MiFIR, MiFID II or CSDR, provided they comply with certain conditions.
The guidelines will enter into force on 23 March 2023. National competent authorities will need to publish on their websites instructions on how to submit the information described in the preceding paragraph.
Q&A
In this first version of the Q&A, ESMA provides clarity in the application of the DLT Pilot Regime in relation to transaction reporting, financial instruments reference data and order record keeping.
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