On October 2, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published the official, finalized versions of its Guidelines on transaction reporting, order recordkeeping and business clock synchronization under MiFID II—each translated into the official languages of the European Union.

The finalized Guidelines appear on ESMA’s webpage in each of the official languages, with the English language version having been published originally almost a year ago on October 10, 2016 (also available from ESMA online here).

The Guidelines apply from January 3, 2018, when MiFID II takes effect across the European Union and European Economic Area (EEA) and apply to investment firms, trading venues, approved reporting mechanisms and national regulators, and are focused on the submission of transaction reports, order recordkeeping and the associated requirements for the synchronization of business clocks.

An ESMA press release of the same date notes that EU/EEA regulators are obliged to notify ESMA whether they will comply with the Guidelines or not within two months (i.e., before December 1).