Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 4 U.K. Waivers for equity instruments

1. [F1 The FCA may] waive the obligation for market operators and investment firms operating a trading venue to make public the information referred to in Article 3(1) for:

(a) systems matching orders based on a trading methodology by which the price of the financial instrument referred to in Article 3(1) is derived from the trading venue where that financial instrument was first admitted to trading or the most relevant market in terms of liquidity, where that reference price is widely published and is regarded by market participants as a reliable reference price. The continued use of that waiver shall be subject to the conditions set out in Article 5.

(b) systems that formalise negotiated transactions which are:

(i)

made within the current volume weighted spread reflected on the order book or the quotes of the market makers of the trading venue operating that system, subject to the conditions set out in Article 5;

(ii)

in an illiquid share, depositary receipt, ETF, certificate or other similar financial instrument that does not fall within the meaning of a liquid market, and are dealt within a percentage of a suitable reference price, being a percentage and a reference price set in advance by the system operator; or

(iii)

subject to conditions other than the current market price of that financial instrument;

(c) orders that are large in scale compared with normal market size;

(d) orders held in an order management facility of the trading venue pending disclosure.

2. The reference price referred to in paragraph 1(a) shall be established by obtaining:

(a) the midpoint within the current bid and offer prices of the trading venue where that financial instrument was first admitted to trading or the most relevant market in terms of liquidity; or

(b) when the price referred to in point (a) is not available, the opening or closing price of the relevant trading session.

Orders shall only reference the price referred to in point (b) outside the continuous trading phase of the relevant trading session.

3. Where trading venues operate systems which formalise negotiated transactions in accordance with paragraph 1(b)(i):

(a) those transactions shall be carried out in accordance with the rules of the trading venue;

(b) the trading venue shall ensure that arrangements, systems and procedures are in place to prevent and detect market abuse or attempted market abuse in relation to such negotiated transactions in accordance with Article 16 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014;

(c) the trading venue shall establish, maintain and implement systems to detect any attempt to use the waiver to circumvent other requirements of this Regulation [F2 , Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565 supplementing Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards organisational requirements and operating conditions for investment firms and defined terms for the purposes of that directive, the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulations 2017 or rules or relevant technical standards made by the FCA] and to report attempts to the [F3 FCA] [F4 (and for these purposes, “relevant technical standards” mean technical standards made by the FCA under this Regulation)].

Where [F5 the FCA] grants a waiver in accordance with paragraph 1(b)(i) or (iii), [F5 the FCA] shall monitor the use of the waiver by the trading venue to ensure that the conditions for use of the waiver are respected.

[F6 4. The FCA must monitor the application of any waivers granted under paragraph 1 and publish an annual report on how they are applied in practice.]

5. [F7 The FCA] may F8 ... withdraw a waiver granted under paragraph 1 as specified under paragraph 6,if it observes that the waiver is being used in a way that deviates from its original purpose or if it believes that the waiver is being used to circumvent the requirements established in this Article.

F9 ...

6. [F10 The FCA may make] technical standards to specify the following:

(a) the range of bid and offer prices or designated market-maker quotes, and the depth of trading interest at those prices, to be made public for each class of financial instrument concerned in accordance with Article 3(1), taking into account the necessary calibration for different types of trading systems as referred to in Article 3(2);

(b) the most relevant market in terms of liquidity of a financial instrument in accordance with paragraph 1(a);

(c) the specific characteristics of a negotiated transaction in relation to the different ways the member or participant of a trading venue can execute such a transaction;

(d) the negotiated transactions that do not contribute to price formation which avail of the waiver provided for under paragraph 1(b)(iii);

(e) the size of orders that are large in scale and the type and the minimum size of orders held in an order management facility of a trading venue pending disclosure for which pre-trade disclosure may be waived under paragraph 1 for each class of financial instrument concerned;

F11 ...

F11 ...

F12 7. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in Art. 4(1) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Markets in Financial Instruments (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1403), regs. 1(3), 27(1)(a) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F2 Words in Art. 4(3)(c) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Markets in Financial Instruments (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1403), regs. 1(3), 27(1)(b)(i)(aa) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F3 Word in Art. 4(3)(c) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Markets in Financial Instruments (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1403), regs. 1(3), 27(1)(b)(i)(bb) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F4 Words in Art. 4(3)(c) inserted (31.12.2020) by The Markets in Financial Instruments (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1403), regs. 1(3), 27(1)(b)(i)(cc) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F5 Words in Art. 4(3) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Markets in Financial Instruments (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1403), regs. 1(3), 27(1)(b)(ii) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F6 Art. 4(4) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Markets in Financial Instruments (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1403), regs. 1(3), 27(1)(c) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F7 Words in Art. 4(5) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Markets in Financial Instruments (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1403), regs. 1(3), 27(1)(d)(i)(aa) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F8 Words in Art. 4(5) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Markets in Financial Instruments (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1403), regs. 1(3), 27(1)(d)(i)(bb) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F9 Words in Art. 4(5) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Markets in Financial Instruments (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1403), regs. 1(3), 27(1)(d)(ii) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F10 Words in Art. 4(6) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Markets in Financial Instruments (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1403), regs. 1(3), 27(1)(e)(i) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F11 Words in Art. 4(6) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Markets in Financial Instruments (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1403), regs. 1(3), 27(1)(e)(ii) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F12 Art. 4(7) omitted (31.12.2020) by virtue of The Markets in Financial Instruments (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 (S.I. 2018/1403), regs. 1(3), 27(1)(f) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)