A Commission Delegated Regulation supplementing the Market Abuse Regulation was published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The Regulation lays down Regulatory Technical Standards on the criteria, procedures and requirements for regulators when establishing an accepted market practice and the requirements for maintaining it, terminating it or modifying the conditions for its acceptance. The Regulatory Technical Standards are made pursuant to MAR, which exempted the application of the prohibition of market manipulation to certain activities, provided that, amongst other things, the person's behavior confirms with an accepted market practice established by a competent authority, in compliance with regulatory technical standards.

The Regulatory Technical Standards require that, prior to establishing an accepted market practice, competent authorities must evaluate the market practice against the criteria set out in the MAR. The competent authority must also consult as appropriate with relevant bodies, such as issuers, investment firms, credit institutions, investors and market operators. Competent authorities must also consider whether certain criteria are met when determining accepted market practices including criteria with respect to transparency, safeguards on the operations of market forces and interplay of the forces of supply and demand, impact on market liquidity and efficiency, impact on the proper functioning of the market, risks for the integrity of related markets, investigation of market practices and structural characteristics of the market. Competent authorities must notify the European Securities and Markets Authority of their intention to determine a market practice as an accepted market practice in the form annexed to the Regulatory Technical Standards.  Additionally, the Regulatory Technical Standards set out when competent authorities should review an established accepted market practice and the criteria for modifying or terminating an established accepted market practice.  

The Regulatory Technical Standards entered into force on June 11, 2016.

View the Regulatory Technical Standards.