Date: 06 February 2016

On 30 May 2016, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued Question and Answers (Q&A) regarding the implementation of the Market Abuse Regulation (MAR).

The MAR Q&A provides common answers to question regarding practical issues regarding the implementation of the new MAR regime. This Q&A clarifies the scope of firms subject to the MAR provision to detect and report suspicious orders and transactions. Q&As are an important tool to promote common supervisory approaches and practices in the application of MAR. The content of this document is aimed at competent authorities under the Regulation to ensure that in their supervisory activities, their actions are converging along the lines of the responses adopted by ESMA. It should also help investors and other market participants by providing clarity on the MAR requirements. The Market Abuse Regulation (MAR) aims at enhancing market integrity and investor protection. MAR updates and strengthens the existing MAD framework, which will be repealed when MAR applies as of 3 July 2016, by extending its scope to new markets and trading strategies and by introducing new requirements. The implementation of the MAR will result in an EU-wide market abuse regime.