On May 13, 2015, ESMA published letters between itself and the European Commission which set out their agreement for the deadline for delivery by ESMA of technical standards due under the Market Abuse Regulation and the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive II to be postponed to the end of September 2015. The extension is a result of the European Commission conducting an early legal review of draft technical standards. The early legal review will assess the legality and legislative consistency of technical standards under UCITS V, the Transparency Directive, the Central Securities Depository Regulation, MAR and MiFID II.

ESMA's letter is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/finance/general-policy/docs/level-2-measures/2015-05-11-letter-maijoor-faull_en.pdf and the European Commission's letter is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/finance/general-policy/docs/level-2- measures/2015-05-11-letter-faull-maijoor_en.pdf.

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