ESMA clarifies mifid market data obligations by withdrawing legacy guidelines

European regulators have moved to streamline mifid market data requirements as ESMA withdraws older guidance and shifts fully to a new technical framework.

ESMA withdraws legacy MiFID II and MiFIR market data guidelines

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the EU’s financial markets regulator and supervisor, has formally withdrawn its previous guidelines on the MiFID II and MiFIR obligations concerning market data. This decision takes effect immediately and applies across all relevant EU trading venues and data providers.

According to ESMA, the withdrawal reflects a continued effort to simplify rules for market participants and to cut unnecessary compliance burdens linked to legacy guidance. Moreover, it marks a practical reset for how firms should interpret their obligations around market data provision and pricing.

The move also underscores ESMA’s intention to avoid regulatory overlap between older soft-law instruments and the newer binding standards. However, firms are still required to ensure that all data disclosures and fee structures remain consistent with the updated Level 2 framework.

Alignment with new RTS on reasonable commercial basis

ESMA confirmed that its decision is designed to align the supervisory framework with the newly applicable regulatory technical standards on the obligation to make market data available to the public on a reasonable commercial basis, known as the RTS on RCB. These standards provide the primary reference for how market data should be made accessible.

The RTS on RCB set detailed criteria for transparency, non-discrimination, and cost-based pricing of data provided by trading venues and approved publication arrangements. That said, by removing the earlier guidelines, ESMA aims to ensure that firms focus directly on these binding requirements rather than relying on potentially outdated interpretative documents.

For market participants, this shift means internal policies and procedures must now map directly against the RTS provisions. However, the practical impact should be manageable, as most firms already adjusted their structures in anticipation of the new standards taking effect.

Key dates and transition period for market data providers

The RTS on RCB entered into force on 23 November 2025, establishing a clear legal baseline for all relevant EU market data providers. Any entity offering trading data to the public must therefore review its commercial terms, documentation, and operational processes against these standards.

Market data providers authorised before 23 November 2025 benefit from a specific transition period that runs until 22 August 2026. Moreover, this transition window is intended solely to give existing providers enough time to align their current contractual arrangements with the new RTS requirements.

The transitional relief does not create broader exemptions from the underlying regulatory objectives. However, it allows firms to renegotiate and adjust pricing schedules, data packages, and service-level clauses in a structured way, without breaching existing commitments to clients.

What the change means for MiFID and MiFIR market participants

With the legacy guidelines now withdrawn, firms subject to MiFID II and MiFIR must rely primarily on the legal text of the RTS and other directly applicable provisions when interpreting their market data duties. This includes how they define reasonable commercial basis for data access and how they disclose fee structures.

For firms active in primary and secondary markets, the consolidated approach should reduce ambiguity between supervisory expectations and binding rules. That said, compliance teams will still need to document clearly how their policies implement the RTS criteria across different asset classes and distribution channels.

ESMA’s simplified framework for mifid market data is also expected to support more consistent supervisory practices among national competent authorities. Moreover, by focusing oversight on a single set of standards, regulators hope to improve both enforcement efficiency and market data transparency for end users.

ESMA contact channels and stakeholder engagement

To support the transition, ESMA is inviting stakeholders to raise any issues related to the application of the RTS on RCB or the updated rules. Market participants can submit questions or comments by email to [email protected], which serves as the dedicated contact point for these matters.

Moreover, for broader communications and media enquiries, ESMA can be contacted at [email protected]. Firms are encouraged to engage proactively if they identify practical challenges or interpretative uncertainties during the phase-in of the RTS framework.

In summary, ESMA’s withdrawal of its earlier MiFID II and MiFIR market data guidelines, combined with the full application of the RTS on RCB from 23 November 2025 and the transition period until 22 August 2026, marks a clear shift toward a simpler, more unified rulebook for EU market data obligations.