(Articles 29 and 44 of Directive 2004/39/EC)
1. An investment firm or market operator operating an MTF or a regulated market shall, in respect of each share admitted to trading on a regulated market that is traded within a system operated by it and specified in Table 1 of Annex II, make public the information set out in paragraphs 2 to 6.
2. Where one of the entities referred to in paragraph 1 operates a continuous auction order book trading system, it shall, for each share as specified in paragraph 1, make public continuously throughout its normal trading hours the aggregate number of orders and of the shares those orders represent at each price level, for the five best bid and offer price levels.
3. Where one of the entities referred to in paragraph 1 operates a quote-driven trading system, it shall, for each share as specified in paragraph 1, make public continuously throughout its normal trading hours the best bid and offer by price of each market maker in that share, together with the volumes attaching to those prices.
The quotes made public shall be those that represent binding commitments to buy and sell the shares and which indicate the price and volume of shares in which the registered market makers are prepared to buy or sell.
In exceptional market conditions, however, indicative or one-way prices may be allowed for a limited time.
4. Where one of the entities referred to in paragraph 1 operates a periodic auction trading system, it shall, for each share specified in paragraph 1, make public continuously throughout its normal trading hours the price that would best satisfy the system's trading algorithm and the volume that would potentially be executable at that price by participants in that system.
5. Where one of the entities referred to in paragraph 1 operates a trading system which is not wholly covered by paragraph 2 or 3 or 4, either because it is a hybrid system falling under more than one of those paragraphs or because the price determination process is of a different nature, it shall maintain a standard of pre-trade transparency that ensures that adequate information is made public as to the price level of orders or quotes for each share specified in paragraph 1, as well as the level of trading interest in that share.
In particular, the five best bid and offer price levels and/or two-way quotes of each market maker in that share shall be made public, if the characteristics of the price discovery mechanism permit it.
6. A summary of the information to be made public in accordance with paragraphs 2 to 5 is specified in Table 1 of Annex II.
(Articles 29(2) and 44(2) of Directive 2004/39/EC)
1. Waivers in accordance with Article 29(2) and 44(2) of Directive 2004/39/EC may be granted by the competent authorities for systems operated by an MTF or a regulated market, if those systems satisfy one of the following criteria:
(a)
they must be based on a trading methodology by which the price is determined in accordance with a reference price generated by another system, where that reference price is widely published and is regarded generally by market participants as a reliable reference price;
(b)
they formalise negotiated transactions, each of which meets one of the following criteria:
(i)
it is made at or within the current volume weighted spread reflected on the order book or the quotes of the market makers of the regulated market or MTF operating that system or, where the share is not traded continuously, within a percentage of a suitable reference price, being a percentage and a reference price set in advance by the system operator;
(ii)
it is subject to conditions other than the current market price of the share.
For the purposes of point (b), the other conditions specified in the rules of the regulated market or MTF for a transaction of this kind must also have been fulfilled.
In the case of systems having functionality other than as described in points (a) or (b), the waiver shall not apply to that other functionality.
2. Waivers in accordance with Articles 29(2) and 44(2) of Directive 2004/39/EC based on the type of orders may be granted only in relation to orders held in an order management facility maintained by the regulated market or the MTF pending their being disclosed to the market.
(Articles 29(2) and 44(2) of Directive 2004/39/EC)
For the purpose of Article 18(1)(b) a negotiated transaction shall mean a transaction involving members or participants of a regulated market or an MTF which is negotiated privately but executed within the regulated market or MTF and where that member or participant in doing so undertakes one of the following tasks:
(a)
dealing on own account with another member or participant who acts for the account of a client;
(b)
dealing with another member or participant, where both are executing orders on own account;
(c)
acting for the account of both the buyer and seller;
(d)
acting for the account of the buyer, where another member or participant acts for the account of the seller;
(e)
trading for own account against a client order.
(Articles 29(2) and 44(2), and fifth subparagraph of Article 27(1) of Directive 2004/39/EC)
An order shall be considered to be large in scale compared with normal market size if it is equal to or larger than the minimum size of order specified in Table 2 in Annex II. For the purposes of determining whether an order is large in scale compared to normal market size, all shares admitted to trading on a regulated market shall be classified in accordance with their average daily turnover, which shall be calculated in accordance with the procedure set out in Article 33.
