Preamble

Whereas:

1. (1)

   It is important to recognise the need for competent authorities to receive complete information about the purpose, structure and organisation of multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) and organised trading facilities (OTFs) that they will be required to supervise in order to ensure the efficient and orderly functioning of financial markets.

2. (2)

   That information should build upon the information an investment firm or market operator would be required to provide as part of the general authorisation requirements under Directive 2014/65/EU. It should focus upon the specific functionality of the trading system so as to enable competent authorities to assess whether the system satisfies the definition of an MTF or OTF and to assess its compliance with the particular, venue-orientated requirements of Directive 2014/65/EU and Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council. The requirement for a detailed description should not affect the duty of an investment firm or market operator to provide other information to its competent authority as required under Directive 2014/65/EU and Regulation (EU) No 600/2014, or the rights of competent authorities to request other information as part of their on-going supervision of trading venues.

3. (3)

   The information received by competent authorities should ensure collecting detailed descriptions of the functioning of the MTF or OTF under Directive 2014/65/EU in a uniform manner, and achieve an efficient processing of information for existing MTFs already operating in accordance with a national authorisation at the point in time when the requirement of submitting a detailed description comes into force.

4. (4)

   Since SME growth markets are distinguished from other MTFs in that they are subject to additional rules under Directive 2014/65/EU, it is necessary that SME growth markets provide additional information.

5. (5)

   Since OTFs are distinguished from MTFs in that the trading process may involve the use of discretionary rules by the operator and because the operator of an OTF will owe responsibilities to users of the system, OTFs should provide additional information.

6. (6)

   To ensure efficient processing, the information required should be provided in electronic format.

7. (7)

   To facilitate the publication by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) of the list of all MTFs and OTFs in the Union accompanied by information on the services they provide and the unique code identifying them, a standard template for that information should be used.

8. (8)

   For reasons of consistency and in order to ensure the smooth functioning of the financial markets, it is necessary that the provisions laid down in this Regulation and the related national provisions transposing Directive 2014/65/EU apply from the same date.

9. (9)

   Any personal data provided under this Regulation should be for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a way incompatible with those purposes. In accordance with Article 6 of Directive 95/46/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council any personal data should be retained for no longer than necessary for the purpose of the exercising the supervisory function, and a maximum period of retention should be indicated.

10. (10)

    This Regulation is based on the draft implementing technical standards submitted by ESMA to the Commission.

11. (11)

    ESMA has conducted open public consultations on the draft implementing technical standards on which this Regulation is based, analysed the potential related costs and benefits and requested the opinion of the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group established by Article 37 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council,