DATA REPORTING SERVICES REGULATIONS

DATA REPORTING SERVICES

SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 345.21

DATA REPORTING SERVICES REGULATIONS

3rd January, 2018

LEGAL NOTICE 391 of 2017, as amended by Legal Notices 136 of 2022 and

255 of 2024.

(1)

The title of these regulations is the Data

Reporting Services Regulations.

(2) The purpose of these regulations is to implement sub-

paragraphs (34), (35), (36), (36a) of Article 2(1), Article 27c, Article

27g, Article 27h and Article 27i of MiFIR, and the relevant

provisions of Article 4 and Articles 59 to 66 of MiFID.

(1)

In

these

regulations

unless

the

context

otherwise requires

"the Acts" means the Financial Markets Act and the

Investment Services Act;

"APA" means a person authorised under MiFIR to provide the

service of publishing trade reports on behalf of investment firms

pursuant to Articles 20 and 21 of MiFIR;

"approved reporting mechanism" or "ARM" means a person

authorised under MiFIR to provide the service of reporting details of

transactions to competent authorities or to ESMA on behalf of

investment firms;

"consolidated tape provider" or "CTP" means a person

authorised under MiFIR to provide the service of collecting trade

reports for financial instruments listed in Articles 6, 7, 10, 12 and 13,

20 and 21 of MiFIR from regulated markets, MTFs, OTFs and APAs

and consolidating them into a continuous electronic live data stream

providing price and volume data per financial instrument;

"data reporting services provider" means an APA, CTP or

ARM and a person referred to in Article 27b(2) of MiFIR;

"DORA Regulation" means Regulation (EU) 2022/2554 of the

European Parliament and of the Council of 14 December 2022 on

digital operational resilience for the financial sector and amending

Regulations (EC) No 1060/2009, (EU) No 648/2012, (EU) No 600/

2014, (EU) No 909/2014 and (EU) 2016/1011, as amended from time

to time, and includes any binding legal instruments, guidelines and

other measures that have been or may be issued thereunder;

"ESMA " means the European Securities and Markets

Authority established by Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the

European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010;

"investment firm" means any person, other than persons to

DATA REPORTING SERVICES

whom MiFID does not apply in terms of Article 2 of the said

Directive, whose regular occupation or business is the provision of

any one or more investment services to third parties on a professional

basis;

"MiFID" means Directive 2014/65/EU of the European

Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in

financial instruments as amended from time to time and includes any

implementing measures that may have been or may be issued

thereunder;

"MiFIR" means Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the

European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets

in financial instruments as amended from time to time;

(2) Words and expressions used in the Acts shall, in these

regulations, have the same meaning as is assigned to them in the

Acts.

(1) The Malta Financial Services Authority

established by the Malta Financial Services Authority Act shall be the

designated competent authority in Malta responsible for the

authorisation and supervision of APAs and ARMs which have a

derogation in accordance with Article 2(3) of MiFIR.

(2)

The competent authority shall exercise all the functions,

obligations and powers and shall satisfy all the requirements imposed

on competent authorities by MiFIR and MIFID.

(3) Without prejudice to sub-regulation (2), the competent

authority may, for the better implementation of MiFIR, exercise any

of the powers assigned to it under the Act in relation to persons acting

as data reporting services providers.

Authorisation procedures for data reporting services providers

(1)

No person shall operate an APA, a CTP or an

ARM in or from Malta, or hold itself out to be or provide the services

of an APA, a CTP or an ARM, unless such person has received prior

authorisation in accordance with Article 27b of MiFIR.

(2)

A person seeking to operate an APA or an ARM which

has a derogation in accordance with Article 2(3) of MiFIR in or from

Malta shall require prior authorisation for this purpose. The

authorisation shall be issued by the competent authority in terms of

these regulations and Article 27b of MiFIR.

(3)

An application for authorisation to operate an APA or an

ARM which has a derogation in accordance with Article 2(3) of

MiFIR in terms of sub-regulation (2) shall be made to the competent

authority in writing and shall be accompanied by such documents as

the competent authority may specify.

DATA REPORTING SERVICES

(4)

An APA or an ARM which has a derogation in

accordance with Article 2(3) of MiFIR shall be authorised by the

competent authority in terms of sub-regulation (2) where

(a)

the data reporting services provider is a legal

person established in the Union; and

(b)

the data reporting services provider meets the

requirements laid down in Title IVa of MiFIR

Provided that the competent authority shall not

issue an authorisation unless it is satisfied that the

applicant is in a position to comply with any

conditions for authorisation set out in Title IVa of

MiFIR which the competent authority may deem fit

to impose.

(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-regulation (2), the

competent authority shall allow an investment firm or a market

operator operating a trading venue to operate the data reporting

s e r v i c e s o f a n A PA o r a n A R M w h i c h h a s a d e r o g a t i o n i n

accordance with Article 2(3) of MiFIR subject to the prior

verification of their compliance with the provisions of Title IVa of

MiFIR. This service shall be included in their licence..

The competent authority may withdraw the authorisation of

an APA or an ARM with a derogation in accordance with Article

2(3) of MIFIR, where such APA or ARM

(a) does not make use of the authorisation within twelve

months from the date when authorisation was granted,

expressly renounces the authorisation or has provided

no services for the preceding six months;

(b) obtained the authorisation by making false statements

or by any other irregular means;

(c) no longer meets the conditions under which it was

authorised; or

(d) has seriously and systematically infringed any

applicable provision set out in MiFIR.

For the better carrying out of the provisions of MiFIR and

of these regulations, the competent authority may, from time to

time, issue and publish rules which shall be binding on all persons

acting as data reporting services providers. Such rules may lay

down additional requirements and conditions in relation to these

matters as the competent authority may consider appropriate,

including

(a) the operation of Title VIa of MiFIR, any provision

dealing with data reporting services providers in

MiFID, or of these regulations;

(b) any matter relating to the functions, obligations and

powers of the competent authority under Title VIa of

MiFIR and any provision dealing with data reporting

services providers in MiFID; and

(c) any other matter arising in connection with data

reporting services providers.

DATA REPORTING SERVICES

The provisions of Title IVa of MiFIR shall apply to persons

acting as data reporting services providers in or from Malta and

such persons shall exercise all the obligations and satisfy all the

requirements imposed on such persons by the said provisions of

Title IVa of MiFIR.

Upon the coming into force of Title IVa of MiFIR, these

regulations shall be construed and applied in accordance therewith

and, insofar as the provisions of these regulations are inconsistent

with the provisions of the said MiFIR, the provisions of MiFIR

shall prevail and the provisions of these regulations shall not apply

to the extent of the inconsistency.

(1) An APA shall have adequate policies and arrangements

in place to make public the information required under Articles 20

and 21 of MiFIR as close to real time as is technically possible, on

a reasonable commercial basis. The information shall be made

available free of charge 15 minutes after the APA has published it.

(2) The APA must be able to efficiently and consistently

disseminate the information referred to in sub-regulation (1) in a way

that ensures fast access to the information, on a non-discriminatory

basis and in a format that facilitates the consolidation of the

information with similar data from other sources.

(3) The information made public by an APA in accordance

with sub-regulations (1) and (2) shall include, at least, the following

details

(a)

the identifier of the financial instrument;

(b)

the price at which the transaction was

concluded;

(c)

the volume of the transaction;

(d)

the time of the transaction;

(e)

the time the transaction was reported;

(f)

the price notation of the transaction;

(g)

the code for the trading venue the transaction

was executed on, or where the transaction was executed via a

systematic internaliser the code ‘SI’ or otherwise the code

‘OTC’;

(h)

if applicable, an indicator that the transaction

was subject to specific conditions.

(4) The APA shall operate and maintain effective

administrative arrangements designed to prevent conflicts of interest

with its clients. In particular, an APA who is also a market operator or

investment firm shall treat all information collected in a non-

discriminatory fashion and shall operate and maintain appropriate

DATA REPORTING SERVICES

arrangements to separate different business functions.

(5) An APA shall comply with the requirements concerning

the security of network and information systems set out in the DORA

Regulation.

(6) The APA shall have systems in place that can effectively

check trade reports for completeness, identify omissions and obvious

errors and request re-transmission of any such erroneous reports.

(1)

A CTP shall have adequate policies and

arrangements in place to collect the information made public in

accordance with Articles 6 and 20 of MiFIR, consolidate it into a

continuous electronic data stream and make the information available

to the public as close to real time as is technically possible, on a

reasonable commercial basis.

(2) The information referred to in sub-regulation (1) shall

include, at least, the following details

(a)

the identifier of the financial instrument;

(b)

the price at which the transaction was

concluded;

(c)

the volume of the transaction;

(d)

the time of the transaction;

(e)

the time the transaction was reported;

(f)

the price notation of the transaction;

(g)

the code for the trading venue the transaction

was executed on, or where the transaction was executed via a

systematic internaliser the code ‘SI’ or otherwise the code

‘OTC’;

(h)

where applicable, the fact that a computer

algorithm within the investment firm was responsible for the

investment decision and the execution of the transaction;

(i)

if applicable, an indicator that the transaction

was subject to specific conditions;

(j)

if the obligation to make public the information

referred to in Article 3(1) of MiFIR was waived in accordance

with point (a) or (b) of Article 4(1) of that Regulation, a flag to

indicate which of those waivers the transaction was subject to.

(3) The information referred to in sub-regulation (1) shall be

made available free of charge 15 minutes after the CTP has published

it. The CTP shall be able to efficiently and consistently disseminate

such information in a way that ensures fast access to the information,

on a non-discriminatory basis and in formats that are easily

accessible and utilisable for market participants.

DATA REPORTING SERVICES

(4) A CTP shall have adequate policies and arrangements in

place to collect the information made public in accordance with

Articles 10 and 21 of MiFIR, consolidate it into a continuous

electronic data stream and make following information available to

the public as close to real time as is technically possible, on a

reasonable commercial basis including, at least, the following details

(a)

the identifier or identifying features of the

financial instrument;

(b)

the price at which the transaction was

concluded;

(c)

the volume of the transaction;

(d)

the time of the transaction;

(e)

the time the transaction was reported;

(f)

the price notation of the transaction;

(g)

the code for the trading venue the transaction

was executed on, or where the transaction was executed via a

systematic internaliser the code ‘SI’ or otherwise the code

‘OTC’;

(h)

if applicable, an indicator that the transaction

was subject to specific conditions.

(5) The information referred to in sub-regulation (4) shall be

made available free of charge 15 minutes after the CTP has published

it. The CTP shall be able to efficiently and consistently disseminate

such information in a way that ensures fast access to the information,

on a non-discriminatory basis and in generally accepted formats that

are interoperable and easily accessible and utilisable for market

participants.

(6) The CTP shall ensure that the data provided is

consolidated from all the regulated markets, MTFs, OTFs and APAs

and for the financial instruments as specified by regulatory technical

standards issued pursuant to Article 65(8)(c) of MiFID.

(7) The CTP shall operate and maintain effective

administrative arrangements designed to prevent conflicts of interest.

In particular, a market operator or an APA, who also operate a

consolidated tape, shall treat all information collected in a non-

discriminatory fashion and shall operate and maintain appropriate

arrangements to separate different business functions.

(8) A CTP shall comply with the requirements concerning

the security of network and information systems established in the

DORA Regulation.

DATA REPORTING SERVICES

(1)

An ARM shall have adequate policies and Organisational

arrangements in place to report the information required under requirements

Article 26 of MiFIR as quickly as possible, and no later than the close Amended by

of the working day following the day upon which the transaction took L.N. 255 of 2024.

place. Such information shall be reported in accordance with the

requirements laid down in Article 26 of MiFIR.

(2) An ARM shall operate and maintain effective

administrative arrangements designed to prevent conflicts of interest

with its clients. In particular, an ARM that is also a market operator

or investment firm shall treat all information collected in a non-

discriminatory fashion and shall operate and maintain appropriate

arrangements to separate different business functions.

(3) An ARM shall comply with the requirements concerning

the security of network and information systems set out in the DORA

Regulation.

(4) The ARM shall have systems in place that can

effectively check transaction reports for completeness, identify

omissions and obvious errors caused by the investment firm and

where such error or omission occurs, to communicate details of the

error or omission to the investment firm and request re-transmission

of any such erroneous reports.

(5) The ARM shall also have systems in place to enable the

ARM to detect errors or omissions caused by the ARM itself and to

enable the ARM to correct and transmit, or re-transmit as the case

may be, correct and complete transaction reports to the competent

authority.

(1)

Where a person falling within the scope of

these regulations fails to comply with any provisions of such

regulations or any rules issued thereunder further implementing such

regulations, the competent authority may, by notice in writing and

without recourse to a court hearing, impose on such person an

administrative penalty and other administrative measures in

accordance with the provisions of the Financial Markets Act (MiFID

and MiFIR Administrative Penalties, Measures and Investigatory

Powers) Regulations, 2017 or the Investment Services Act and

Banking Act (MiFID and MiFIR Administrative Penalties, Measures

and Investigatory Powers) Regulations, 2017.