EUROPEAN UNION: Protocol on the Operation of Notifications of MiFID Article 41 Suspensions and Removals of Financial Instruments from Trading

Tuesday July 9 2013

ESMA has created a protocol to ensure effective co-operation between Competent Authorities (CAs) with respect to their obligations under Article 41 of MiFID (Suspension and removal of instruments from trading).

The purpose of the notification obligations under Article 41 is to afford investors across all Member States the same level of protection regardless of where they trade. In order to achieve this outcome, a shared understanding of the different circumstances under which trading may be suspended in different Member States according to their national law and the expected course of action under Article 41 is helpful. To ensure trading is suspended or an instrument is removed from trading in an effective and timely way, an effective communication process is necessary.

On November 2011, ESMA decided to substitute the original email notification system set out by the CESR Protocol on the Operation of notifications of MiFID Article 41 suspensions and removals of financial instruments from trading (Ref. CESR/08-363) by a centralized multilateral functionality hosted by ESMA. To that end, ESMA has developed the SARIS (Suspension And Restoration Information System), an IT tool to help national competent authorities to discharge their duties under MiFID Article 41. SARIS permits publishing externally basic data about suspensions and NCAs may benefit from the information of the ESMA’s Instruments Reference Data System (RDS), an IT system which stores reference data for all instruments admitted to trading on EEA regulated markets.

The protocol will be kept under review in light of practical experience and the evolution of financial regulation.

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