B 2963
L.N. 391 of 2017
FINANCIAL MARKETS ACT 
(CAP. 345)
INVESTMENT SERVICE ACT
(CAP. 370)
Data Reporting Services Regulations, 2017
IN EXERCISE of the powers conf erred by article 49 of the
Financial Markets Act and arti cle 12 of the Investment Services  Act,
the Minister responsible for the regulation of financial servic es,
acting on the advice of the Malta Financial Services Authority,  has
made the following regulations:
Title, scope and 
commencement.1. (1) The title of these regulations is the Data Reporting
Services Regulations, 2017.
(2) The purpose of these regulations is to transpose and
implement Article 4(1) paragraphs  (20), (52) to (54), Article 5 9(1)
and (2), the first and third sub-paragraphs of sub-article (3) and 59(4),
Article 60, Article 61(1) to (3 ), Article 62, Article 63(1), (3), (4) and
(5), Article 64(1) to (5), Artic le 65(1) to (5) and Article 66( 1) to (5) of
MiFID as herein defined, and they shall be interpreted and appl ied
accordingly.
(3) These regulations shall com e into force on the 3rd January
2018.
Definitions.
Cap. 345. 
Cap. 3702. (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 authoris ed under these regulations to
provide the service of publishi ng trade reports on behalf of
investment firms pursuant to Articles 20 and 21 of MiFIR; 
 "ARM" means a person authoris ed under these regulations to
provide the service of reporting details of transactions to com petent
authorities or to ESMA on be half of investment firms;
 " C T P "  m e a n s  a  p e r s o n  a u t h o r i s ed under these regulations to
provide the service of collecti ng trade reports for financial
instruments listed in Articles 6, 7, 10, 12, 13, 20 and 21 of M iFIR
from regulated markets, MTFs, OTFs and APAs and consolidatingSuppliment tal-Gazzetta tal-Gvern ta’ Malta Nru. 19,925, 22 ta’ Diċembru, 2017
Taqsima B
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them into a continuous electroni c live data stream providing price and
volume data per financial instrument;
"data reporting services" shall mean:
(i) operating an APA; 
(ii) operating a CTP;
(iii) operating an ARM;
"data reporting services provider" means an APA, a CTP or an
ARM;
"ESMA " means the European Sec urities and Markets Authority
established by Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010;
"home Member State " means, in  the case of a data reporting
services provider: 
(a) if the data reporting services provider is a natural
person, the Member State or EEA State in which its head office
is situated; 
(b) if the data reporting services provider is a legal
person, the Member State or EEA State in which its registered
office is situated; 
(c) if the data reporting services provider has, under its
national law, no registered off ice, the Member State or EEA
State in which the head office is situated; 
"investment firm" means any pe rson, other than persons to
whom MiFID does not apply in terms of Article 2 of the saidDirective, whose regular occupati on or business is the provisio n of
any one or more investment servi ces to third parties on a profe ssional
basis;
"management body" means the body or bodies of a data
reporting services provider which are appointed in accordance w ith
Maltese law, which are empowered to set the entity’s strategy,objectives and overall direction, and which oversee and monitor
management decision-making and include persons who effectively
direct the business of the entity;
 "MiFID" means Directive 2014/65/EU of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial
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instruments as amended from time to time and includes any
implementing measures that may have been or may be issued
thereunder;
 "MiFIR" means Regulation (E U) No 600/2014 of the European
Parliament and of the Council o f 15 May 2014 on markets in fina ncial
instruments as amended from time to time;
 "systematic internaliser" mea ns an investment firm which, on
an organised, frequent systemati c and substantial basis, deals on own
account when executing client ord ers outside a regulated market, an
MTF or an OTF without operating a multilateral system. The freq uent
and systematic basis shall be measured by the number of OTC tradesin the financial instrument carried out by the investment firm on own
account when executing client orders. The substantial basis sha ll be
measured either by the size of the OTC trading carried out by theinvestment firm in relation to t he total trading of the investment firm
in a specific financial instrument or by the size of the OTC tr ading
carried out by the investment fir m in relation to the total tra ding in the
Union in a specific financial in strument. This definition shall  apply
only where the pre-set limits for  a frequent and systematic bas is and
for a substantial basis are both crossed or where an investment  firm
chooses to opt-in under the systematic internaliser regime.
(2) Words and expressions used in the Acts shall, in these
regulations, have the same meaning as is assigned to them in the Acts. 
Part I 
Authorisation procedures for d ata reporting services providers
Requirement for 
authorisation.3. (1) The provision of the data reporting services as a
regular occupation or business shall be subject to prior author isation
granted in accordance with these regulations. The authorisation  shall
be granted by the competent authority.
(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-regulation (1), the
competent authority shall allow an investment firm or a market
operator operating a trading venu e to operate the data reportin g
services of an APA, a CTP and an ARM, subject to the prior
verification of their complian ce with the provisions of these
regulations. This service shall be included in their licence. 
(3) The competent authority shal l keep a register of all data
reporting services providers. The register shall be publicly accessibleand shall contain information on t h e  s e r v i c e s  f o r  w h i c h  t h e  d a t a
reporting services provider is authorised. It shall be updated on aregular basis. 
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(4) The competent authority sha ll notify every authorisation
issued in terms of this Part of the regulations to ESMA. 
(5) The competent authority sh all supervise and shall keep
under review all data reporting services providers to provide t heir
services in terms of these regul ations. It shall also ensure th at data
reporting services providers comply at all times with the conditions
for initial authorisation prescribed in terms of these regulati ons.
Scope for 
authorisation.4. ( 1) The authorisation granted by the competent
authority shall specify the dat a reporting service which the da ta
reporting services provider is authorised to provide. 
(2) A data reporting services provider seeking to extend its
business to additional data reporting services shall submit a r equest
for extension of its authorisation. 
(3) The authorisation granted by the competent authority to a
data reporting service provider in terms of these regulations s hall be
valid for the entire Union and shall allow a data reporting ser vices
provider to provide the services, for which it has been authori sed,
throughout the Union. 
Procedures for granting and 
refusing 
requests for authorisation.5. (1) The competent authority shall not grant
authorisation unless and until s uch time as it is fully satisfi ed that the
applicant complies with all requirements prescribed in these
regulations. 
(2) The data reporting services provider shall provide all
information, including a program me of operations setting out, inter
alia, the types of services envisaged and the organisational struct ure,
necessary to enable the competent authority to satisfy itself t hat the
data reporting services provider has established, at the time o f initial
authorisation, all the necessary arrangements to meet its oblig ations
as prescribed in these regulations. 
(3) Within six months from the date of the submission of a
complete application, the compet ent authority shall inform the
applicant in writing of its decision whether or not to grant a licence.
Withdrawal of 
authorisation.6. (1) The competent authority may withdraw the
authorisation granted to a data reporting services provider where the
provider: 
(a) does not make use of the authorisation within 12
months; 
(b) expressly renounces the authorisation; 
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(c) has provided no data reporting services for the
preceding six months; 
(d) has obtained the authorisation by making false
statements or by any othe r irregular means; 
(e) no longer meets the conditions under which
authorisation was granted; or
(f) has seriously and systematically infringed the
provisions of MiFID or of MiFIR. 
(2) Where the competent authority has withdrawn an
authorisation in accordance with sub-regulation (1), it shall n otify
ESMA thereof.
Requirements 
for the management 
body of a data 
reporting services 
provider.7. (1) All the members of the  management body of a data
reporting services provider shall at all times be of sufficient ly good
repute, possess sufficient knowledge, skills and experience and
commit sufficient time to perform their duties. 
(2) The management body shall possess adequate collective
knowledge, skills and experience to be able to understand the
activities of the data reporting services provider. Each member  of the
management body shall act with honesty, integrity and independe nce
of mind to effectively challe nge the decisions of the senior
management where necessary and to effectively oversee and monitor
management decision-ma king where necessary. 
(3) Where a market operator seeks authorisation to operate an
APA, a CTP or an ARM and the members of the management body of
the APA, the CTP or the ARM are the same as the members of the
management body of the regulated market, those persons are deem ed
to comply with the requirement  prescribed in sub-regulation (1) .
(4) A data reporting services provider shall notify the
competent authority of all members of its management body and o f
any changes to its membership, along with all information neede d to
assess whether the entity comp lies with the provisions of sub-
regulations (1) to (3). 
(5) The management body of a data reporting services
provider shall be required to def ine and oversee the implementa tion
of the governance arrangements th at ensure effective and pruden t
management of an organisation including the segregation of duti es in
the organisation and the prevention of conflicts of interest, a nd in a
manner that promotes the integrity of the market and the intere st of its
clients. 
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(6) The competent authority shall refuse authorisation if it is
not satisfied that the person or the persons who shall effectively direct
the business of the data reporting services provider are of suf ficiently
good repute, or if there are obj ective and demonstrable grounds  for
believing that proposed changes to the management of the provid er
pose a threat to its sound and prudent management and to theadequate consideration of the interest of its clients and the i ntegrity of
the market. 
Part II
Conditions for APAs
Organisational 
requirements for 
APAs. 8. (1) An APA shall have adequate policies and
arrangements in place to make public the information required u nder
Articles 20 and 21 of MiFIR as close to real time as is technic ally
possible, on a reasonable commercial basis. The information sha ll be
made available free of charge 15  minutes after the APA has publ ished
it. 
(2) The APA must be able to efficiently and consistently
disseminate the information refe rred to in sub-regulation (1) i n a way
that ensures fast access to the information, on a non-discrimin atory
basis and in a format that facili tates 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 f ollowing
details: 
(a) the identifier of the  financial instrument; 
(b) the price at which the t ransaction 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 c ode ‘SI’ or otherwise the code
‘OTC’; 
(h) if applicable, an indicato r that the transaction was
subject to specific conditions. 
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(4) The APA shall operate and maintain effective
administrative arrangements desi gned to prevent conflicts of in terest
with its clients. In particular, an APA who is also a market operator or
investment firm shall treat a ll information collected in a non-
discriminatory fashion and shall operate and maintain appropria te
arrangements to separate different business functions. 
(5) The APA shall have sound security mechanisms in place
designed to guarantee the securi ty of the means of transfer of
information, minimise the risk of data corruption and unauthori sed
access and to prevent information leakage before publication. TheAPA shall maintain adequate res ources and have back-up faciliti es in
place in order to offer and maintain its services at all times.  
(6) The APA shall have systems in place that can effectively
check trade reports for complet eness, identify omissions and obvious
errors and request re-transmission of any such erroneous report s. 
Part III
Conditions for CTPs
Organisational 
requirements for CTPs.9. (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 avai lable
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 c ode ‘SI’ or otherwise the code
‘OTC’; 
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(h) where applicable, th e 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 M iFIR was waived in accordance
with point (a) or (b) of Article  4(1) of that Regulation, a fla g 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 publ ished
it. The CTP shall be able to eff iciently and consistently disseminate
such information in a way that ensures fast access to the infor mation,
on a non-discriminatory basis a nd in formats that are easily accessible
and utilisable for market participants. 
(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, c onsolidate it into a continuous
electronic data stream and make f ollowing 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 t ransaction 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 c ode ‘SI’ or otherwise the code
‘OTC’; 
(h) if applicable, an indicato r that the transaction was
subject to specific conditions. 
(5) The information referred to in sub-regulation (4) shall be
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made available free of charge 15 minutes after the CTP has publ ished
it. The CTP shall be able to efficiently and consistently disseminate
such information in a way that ensures fast access to the infor mation,
on a non-discriminatory basis and in generally accepted formats  that
are interoperable and easily acce ssible and utilisable for market
participants. 
(6) The CTP shall ensure that the data provided is
consolidated from all the regula ted markets, MTFs, OTFs and APA s
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 in terest.
I n  p a r t i c u l a r ,  a  m a r k e t  o p e r a t o r or an APA, who also operate a
consolidated tape, shall treat all information collected in a non-
discriminatory fashion and shall operate and maintain appropria te
arrangements to separate different business functions. 
(8) The CTP shall have sound security mechanisms in place
designed to guarantee the securi ty of the means of transfer of
information and to minimise the risk of data corruption andunauthorised access. The CTP shall maintain adequate resources and
have back-up facilities in place in order to offer and maintain  i t s
services at all times. 
Part IV
Conditions for ARMs
Organisational 
requirements for 
ARMs.10.  (1) An ARM shall have adequate policies and
arrangements in place to report the information required under Article
26 of MiFIR as quickly as possibl e, and no later than the close  of the
working day following the day upon which the transaction took p lace.
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 desi gned to prevent conflicts of in terest
with its clients. In particular,  an ARM that is also a market o perator or
investment firm shall treat a ll information collected in a non-
discriminatory fashion and shall operate and maintain appropria te
arrangements to separate different business functions. 
(3) An ARM shall have sound security mechanisms in place
designed to guarantee the securit y and authentication of the me ans of
transfer of informati on, minimise the risk of data corruption and
unauthorised access and to preve nt information leakage, maintai ning
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the confidentiality of the data at all times. The ARM shall mai ntain
adequate resources and have back-up facilities in place in orde r to
offer and maintain its s ervices at all times. 
(4) The ARM shall have systems in place that can effectively
check transaction reports for completeness, identify omissions and
obvious errors caused by the inve stment firm and where such err or or
omission occurs, to communicate details of the error or omissio n 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 c ase
may be, correct and complete transaction reports to the compete nt
authority. 
Part V
Administrative Penalties, other measures and Appeals
Administrative 
Penalties, other 
administrative 
measures and Appeals.
L.N. 392.
L.N. 401.11. (1) Where a person falling within the scope of these
regulations fails to comply with any provisions of such regulat ions or
any rules issued thereunder furt her implementing such regulatio ns,
the competent authority may, by notice in writing and without
recourse to a court hearing, impose on such person an administr ative
penalty and other administrative  measures in accordance with th e
provisions of the Financial Markets Act (MiFID and MiFIRAdministrative Penalties, Meas ures and Investigatory Powers)
Regulations, 2017 or the Investme nt Services Act and Banking Ac t
(MiFID and MiFIR Administrati ve Penalties, Measures and
Investigatory Powers) Regulations, 2017.
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