ESMA Publishes July Q&As on MiFIR, MiCA and ESG Ratings

The European Securities and Markets Authority published a new July Q&A update covering the EU ESG Ratings Regulation, the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation and the Markets in Financial Instruments Regulation.

For MiFIR secondary markets, ESMA listed two consolidated-tape provider questions: one on the opt-in regime and one on the timestamp of the order. The update also includes MiCA questions on custody and transfer services for later-issued crypto-assets, the perimeter of advice under MiCA compared with MiFID II, and crypto-asset lending services.

The ESG ratings section covers consulting activities, notification periods, factual-error review access, issuer feedback and internal-use or in-house financial-services scenarios. ESMA also listed an exemption question for second-party opinion providers.

Why it matters

The MiFIR questions are the clearest trading-market item because they relate to Europe’s consolidated tape framework. Timestamping and opt-in treatment affect how tape data is organized and used by venues, data users and firms preparing for consolidated market-data feeds.

The MiCA questions matter for brokers and platforms that touch crypto custody, transfers, lending or advice. ESMA’s comparison between MiCA advice and MiFID II advice is especially relevant where firms offer both traditional investment services and crypto-asset services.

What to watch next

Watch for the detailed Q&A entries to be reflected in firm policies, venue onboarding materials and data-contributor guidance. For traders, the practical signal is whether consolidated-tape implementation and crypto service permissions become clearer enough to change broker product availability or market-data coverage.