FINANCIAL MARKETS ACT (MIFID AND MIFIR
ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES, MEASURES AND
INVESTIGATORY POWERS) [S.L.345.22 1
SUBSIDIARY LEGISLATION 345.22
FINANCIAL MARKETS ACT (MIFID AND MIFIR 
ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES, MEASURES AND 
INVESTIGATORY POWERS) REGULATIONS
3rd January, 2018
LEGAL NOTICE 392 of 2017, as amende d by Legal Notice 137 of 2022.
Title, scope. 1. (1) The title of these regulations is the Financial
Markets Act (MiFID and MiFIR Administrative Penalties, Measures
and Investigatory Powers) Regulations.
(2) The purpose of these regulations is to transpose and
implement Article 70(1), Article  70(3) to (6) and Article 71(1)  to (5) of
MiFID, as herein defined and shall be interpreted and appliedaccordingly.
Interpretation.
Amended by:L.N. 137 of 2022.2. (1) In these regulations, unless the context
otherwise requires – 
Cap. 345.
Cap. 330. "the Acts" means the Financial Markets Act and the
Malta Financial Services Authority Act;
"approved publication arrangement" or "APA" means a
person authorised under MiFIR to provide the service ofpublishing trade reports on behalf of investment firmspursuant to Articles 20 and 21 of MiFIR;
"approved reporting mechanism" or "ARM" means a
person authorised under MiFIR to provide the service ofreporting details of transactions to competent authorities or t o
ESMA on behalf of investment firms;
Cap. 330."competent authority" means the Malta Financial
Services Authority established by the Malta Financial ServicesAuthority Act;
"consolidated tape provider" or "CTP" means a person
authorised under MiFIR to provi de the service of collecting
trade reports for financial instr uments listed in Articles 6, 7 ,
10, 12 and 13, 20 and 21 of MiFIR from regulated markets,MTFs, OTFs and APAs and consolidating them into acontinuous electronic live data  stream providing price and
volume data per financial instrument;
"ETF" means an ‘exchange-traded fund’ being a fund of
which at least one unit or share class is traded throughout theday on at least one trading venue and with at least one marketmaker which takes action to ensure that the price of its units or
shares on the trading venue does not vary significantly from it s
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ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES, MEASURES AND
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net asset value and, where applicable, from its indicative net
asset value; 
"investment firm" means any person, other than persons
to whom MiFID does not apply in terms of Article 2 of thesaid Directive, whose regular occupation or business is the
provision of any one or more investment services to thirdparties on a professional basis;
Cap. 370."Maltese investment firm" m eans a person licensed in
terms of the Investment Services  Act, whose head office is in
Malta and who is entitled to carry on activity in a MemberState or EEA State other than Malta in exercise of a EuropeanRight; 
 "MiFID" means Directive 2014/65/EU of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets infinancial instruments, as amended from time to time, andincludes any implementing meas ures that have been or may be
issued thereunder;
 "MiFIR" means Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the
European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May, 2014 onmarkets in financial instruments and amending Regulation(EU) No 648/2012, as may be am ended from time to time, and
includes any implementing measures, implementing technicalstandards, regulatory technical standards, guidelines andsimilar measures that have bee n or may be issued thereunder;
 "multilateral trading facility" or "MTF" means a
multilateral system, operated by an investment firm or amarket operator, which brings together multiple third-partybuying and selling interests in financial instruments – in thesystem and in accordance with non-discretionary rules – in away that results in a contract in accordance with Title II ofMiFID;
 "organised trading facility" or  "OTF" means a
multilateral system which is not a regulated market or an MTFand in which multiple third-party buying and selling interestsin bonds, structured finance products, emission allowances orderivatives are able to interact in the system in a way thatresults in a contract in acco rdance with Title II of MiFID.
(2) Words and expressions which are also used in the Acts
shall have the same me aning as in the Acts. 
FINANCIAL MARKETS ACT (MIFID AND MIFIR
ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES, MEASURES AND
INVESTIGATORY POWERS) [S.L.345.22 3
Supervisory 
powers and powers to impose 
administrative 
penalties and other administrative 
measures.3. The competent authority shall exercise its supervisory
powers and its powers to impose administrative penalties and ot her
administrative measures, in such a way as to ensure full and co mplete
adherence to the requirements and obligations arising out of th e Acts
and any regulations and Financial Market Rules issued thereunde r
and MiFIR, either directly or in collaboration with Europeanregulatory authorities and with overseas regulatory authorities , in
terms of law as warranted by the relevant circumstances and sha ll
take all measures necessary to en sure that such administrative
penalties and adminis trative measures are implemented. 
Administrative 
penalties and other 
administrative 
measures.Cap. 345.4. (1) Without prejudice to article 39A of the
Financial Markets Act, to any re gulations made under the Financ ial
Markets Act and to the supervisory powers of the competentauthority referred in regulation 3, the competent authority sha ll
impose administrative penalties and other administrative measur es in
respect of breaches of: 
Cap. 345. (a) the provisions of the Financial Markets Act
and, or of regulations and, or Financial Market Rules issued
thereunder transposing th e provisions of MiFID; and
(b) the provisions of MiFIR.
(2) The administrative penalties and other measures taken
pursuant to sub-regulation (1) shall be effective, proportionat e and
dissuasive. 
Administrative 
penalties and other 
administrative measures for 
breaches of MiFID 
and MiFIR.Amended by:
L.N. 137 of 2022.5. (1) The competent authority shall exercise its
supervisory powers and its power s to the following administrati ve
penalties and measures:
(a) a public statement which indicates the natural
or legal person and the nature of the infringement;
(b) an order requiring the natural or legal person to
cease the conduct and to des ist from a repetition of that
conduct;
Cap. 345.(c) in the case of a market operator authorised to
operate an MTF or OTF, or a regulated market, withdrawal orsuspension of the authorisation of the institution in accordanc e
with the provisions of the Financial Markets Act and anyregulations issued thereunder;
(d) a temporary ban on any Maltese investment
firm being a member of or participant in regulated markets orMTFs or any client of OTFs;
(e) in the case of a legal person, maximum
administrative fines of up to fiv e million euro (€5,000,000), o r
10% of the total annual turnover of the legal person accordingto the last available accounts approved by the management
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body:
P r o v i d e d  t h a t  w h e r e  t h e  l e g a l  p e r s o n  i s  a  p a r e n t
undertaking or a subsidiary of the parent undertaking whichhas to prepare consolidated financial accounts in accordancewith Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and ofthe Council, the relevant total annual turnover shall be the to tal
annual turnover or the corresponding type of income inaccordance with the relevant Union law in the area ofaccounting, according to the last available consolidatedaccounts approved by the management body of the ultimateparent undertaking;
(f) in the case of a natural person, maximum
administrative fines of up to  five million euro (€5,000,000);
(g) maximum administrative fines of up to twice
the amount of the benefit derive d from the infringement where
that benefit can be determined, even if that exceeds themaximum amounts specified in  paragraphs (e) and (f) above.
( h ) i n  t h e  c a s e  o f  a n  A P A  o r  A R M  w h i c h  h a s  a
derogation in accordance with Article 2(3) of MiFIR,withdrawal and suspension of the authorisation in accordancewith Article 27e of MiFIR.
Publication of 
decisions. 6.  (1)  The competent authority shall publish any
decision imposing an administrative penalty or measure which it  shall
take under these regulations on its official website, without u ndue
delay after the person on whom t he penalty or measure was impos ed
has been informed of that decision. The publication shall inclu de at
least information on the type and nature of the infringement an d the
identity of the pers ons responsible:
 Provided that this obligation shall not apply to decisions
imposing measures that are of  an investigatory nature.
(2)  Notwithstanding sub-regulation (1), where the
publication of the identity of th e legal persons or of the pers onal data
of the natural persons is considered by the competent authority  to be
disproportionate following a case -by-case assessment conducted on
the proportionality of the publication of such data, or wherepublication jeopardises the stability of financial markets or a n on-
going investigation, the compe tent authority shall either:
(a) defer the publication of the decision to impose
the administrative penalty or measure until the moment wherethe reasons for non- public ation cease to exist; 
FINANCIAL MARKETS ACT (MIFID AND MIFIR
ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES, MEASURES AND
INVESTIGATORY POWERS) [S.L.345.22 5
(b) publish the decision to impose the
administrative penalty or measure on an anonymous basis in amanner which complies with Maltese law, if such anonymouspublication ensures an effective protection of the personal dat a
concerned; or
(c)  not publish the decision to impose an
administrative penalty or measure at all in the event that theoptions set out in points (a) and (b) are considered to beinsufficient to ensure:
(i)  that the stability of financial markets
would not be put in jeopardy; 
(ii) the proportionality of the publication of
such decisions with regard to administrative penalties ormeasures which are deemed to be of a minor nature.
(3) In the case of a decision to publish an administrative
penalty or measure on an anonymous  basis in accordance with sub -
regulation (2), the publication of the relevant data may be pos tponed
for a reasonable period of time if it is envisaged that within that
period the reasons for anonymous p ublication shall cease to exi st.
(4) Where the decision to impose an administrative penalty
or measure is subject to appeal in terms of regulation 8, thecompetent authority shall also publish, immediately, on its off icial
website such information and any subsequent information on theoutcome of such appeal. Moreover, any decision annulling a prev ious
decision to impose an administrative penalty or a measure shall  also
be published.
(5) The competent authority shall ensure that any
publication in accordance with t his regulation shall remain on its
official website for a period of at least five years after its publication: 
Provided that personal data contained in the publication
shall only be kept on the official website of the competent aut hority
for the period which is necessa ry in accordance with the applic able
data protection laws.
(6) This regulation shall be without prejudice to article
16(8) of the Malta Financial Services Authority Act. 
(7) The competent authority shall inform ESMA of all
administrative penalties imposed but not published in accordanc e
with point (c) of sub-regulation (2) including any appeal in re lation
thereto and the outcome thereof.
(8) The competent authority shall provide ESMA annually
with aggregated information regarding all sanctions and measure s
imposed in accordance with  sub-regulations (1) to (4):
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ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES, MEASURES AND
INVESTIGATORY POWERS)
Provided that this obligation does not apply to measures
of an investigatory nature.
(9) Where the competent authority has disclosed an
administrative measure, penalty or criminal sanction to the pub lic, it
shall, at the same time, r eport that fact to ESMA.
Applicability of 
these regulations.
Amended by:L.N. 137 of 2022.7. (1) These regulations shall apply at least in the
case of breach of any of the following: 
L.N. 395.
L.N. 400.(a) the provisions of regulations 3 to 8 of the
Algorithmic Trading Regulations, 2017;
(b) the provisions of regulations 3(1) to (6), 4, 5,
and 6(1) to (3) and (5) of the Multilateral Trading Facilities and
Organised Trading Facilities Regulations;
(c) the provisions of Articles 4(1) and (2), 4B(1)
and (4), 4C(1), (2)and (3), 4E,  4F, 4G(1), 4H, 7, 8(2)(d),
10B(2), 17(1)(b), (d), ( e) and (g) of the FMA;
L.N. 390. (d) the provisions of regulation 4(1) of the
Financial Markets Act (SME Growth Market) Regulations,2017;
S.L.345.06(e) the provisions of regulation 5(1) and 8 of the
Financial Markets Act (Members hip and Access) Regulations;
L.N. 387.(f) the provisions of regulation 3(1), (2) and (4) of
the Central Counterparties Access Regulations, 2017;
S.L.345.04(g) the provisions of regulations 3, 8 and
paragraphs 2, 3, 4, 5 of the Schedule of the Regulated Markets(Authorisation Requirements) Regulations;
S.L.345.11(h) the provisions of regulations 3(3) and 4(3) of
the European Rights for Regu lated Markets Regulations; 
L.N. 389.(i) the provisions of regulations 3(1) to (3), (5),
(15), (17) and (19) and regulation 4(1) to (7) of the PositionLimits and Position Management Controls in CommodityDerivatives and Reporti ng Regulations, 2017.
L.N. 391.(j) the provisions of regulations 7(1) to (5), 8, 9,
and 10 of the Data Reporting Services Regulations, 2017.
(2) These regulations shall apply at least in the case of
breach of the following provisions of MiFIR: 
(a) the provisions of Article 3(1) and (3) on pre-
FINANCIAL MARKETS ACT (MIFID AND MIFIR
ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES, MEASURES AND
INVESTIGATORY POWERS) [S.L.345.22 7
trade transparency requirements for trading venues in respect
of shares, depositary receipts,  ETFs, certificates and other
financial instruments;
(b) the provisions of the first paragraph of Article
4(3) on waivers for equity instruments;
(c) the provisions of Article 6 on post-trade
transparency requirements for trading venues in respect ofshares, depositary receipts, ETF s, certificates and other simil ar
financial instruments;
(d) the provisions of the third paragraph of Article
7(1) on the requirement to obtain the competent authority’sprior approval of proposed arrangements for deferred tradepublication;
(e) the provisions of Article 8(1), (3) and (4) on
pre-trade transparency requirements for trading venues inrespect of bonds, structured finance products, emissionallowances and derivatives;
(f) the provisions of Article 10 on post-trade
transparency requirements for trading venues in respect ofbonds, structured finance products, emission allowances andderivatives;
(g) the provisions of the third paragraph of Article
11(1) and the third paragraph of Article 11(3) on authorisationof deferred publication; 
(h) the provisions of Article 12(1) on the
obligation to make pre-trade and post-trade data availableseparately;
(i) the provisions of Article 13(1) on the
obligation to make pre-trade a nd post-trade data available on a
reasonable commercial basis; 
(j) the provisions of Article 14(1), the first
sentence of sub-article (2), the second to the fourth sentence of
sub-article (3) on the obligation for systematic internalisers to
make public firm quotes in respect of shares, depositaryreceipts, ETFs, certificates and other financial instruments an d
on the requirement applicable to systematic internaliser on thesize and sizes at  which they quote;
(k) the provisions of the first paragraph of Article
15(1), the first and third sentence of the second paragraph ofsub-article (2) and the second sentence of sub-article (4) onexecution of client orders;
(l) the provisions of the second sentence of Article
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ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES, MEASURES AND
INVESTIGATORY POWERS)
17(1) on the requirement of clear standards governing access
to quotes of systematic internalisers;
(m) the provisions of Article 18(1), (2), (4) [first
sentence], (5) [first sentence] , the first paragraph of sub-art icle
(6) and sub-articles (8) and (9) on the obligation for systemat ic
internalisers to make public firm quotes in respect of bonds,structured finance products, emission allowances andderivatives; 
( n ) t h e  p r o v i s i o n s  o f  A r t i c l e  2 0 ( 1 )  a n d  ( 2 )  ( f i r s t
sentence) on the post-trade disclosure by investment firms,including systematic internalisers, in respect of shares,depositary receipts, ETFs, certificates and other similarfinancial instruments and the requirement for the informationwhich is made public and the time limits within which it ispublished to comply with the requirement adopted pursuant toArticle 6 and the regulatory technical standards adopted inaccordance with Article 7(2)(a);
(o) the provisions of Article 21(1) to (3) on post-
trade disclosure by investment  firms including systematic
internalisers, in respect of bonds, structured finance products ,
emission allowances and derivatives;
(p) the provisions of Artic le 22(2) on the provision
of information for the purposes of transparency and othercalculations and the requirement of trading venues, APAs andCTPs to store the necessary data for a sufficient period of tim e;
(q) the provisions of Article 23(1) and (2) on the
trading obligation of investment firms; 
(r) the provisions of Article 25(1) and (20 on the
obligation to maintain records; 
(s) the provisions of the first paragraph of Article
26(1), (2) to (5), the first paragraph to sub-article (6) and t he
first, fifth and eighth paragraphs to sub-article (7) on theobligation to report transactions; 
(t) the provisions of Article 27(1) on the
obligation of trading venues and systematic internalisers toprovide the competent authority with identifying referencedata for the purpose of re porting under Article 26;
(u) the provisions of Article 28(1) and the first
paragraph of sub-article (2) on the obligation to trade onregulated markets, MTFs or OTFs;
FINANCIAL MARKETS ACT (MIFID AND MIFIR
ADMINISTRATIVE PENALTIES, MEASURES AND
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(v) the provisions of Article 29(1) and (2) on the
clearing obligation for derivativ es traded on regulated markets
and timing of acceptance for clearing; 
(w) the provisions of Article 30(1) on indirect
clearing arrangements;
( x ) t h e  p r o v i s i o n s  o f  A r t i c l e  3 1 ( 2 )  a n d  3 )  o n  t h e
requirement of investment firms and market operatorsproviding portfolio compression to make public through anAPA, the volumes of transactions and the time they wereconcluded in terms of Article 10 and the requirement to keepcomplete and accurate records;
(y) the provisions of Article 35(1) to (3) on non-
discriminatory access to a central counter-party;
(z) the provisions of Article 36(1) to (3) on non-
discriminatory access  to a trading venue; 
(aa) the provisions of Article 37(1) and (3) on
non-discriminatory access to and obligation to licencebenchmarks;
(ab)  Article 27f(1), (2) and (3), Article 27g(1) to
(5) and Article 27i(1) to (4), where an APA or ARM has aderogation in accordanc e with Article 2(3).
(3) These regulations shall apply in the following instances
related to product monitoring and intervention:
(a) exercise by ESMA of its temporary
intervention powers in terms of Article 40 of MiFIR;
(b) exercise by the EBA of its temporary
intervention powers in terms o f Article 41 of  MiFIR; and
(c) exercise of the product intervention powers by
the competent authority in term s of Article 42 of  MiFIR. 
(4) The provision of investment services without the
required authorisation or a pproval in accordance with:
Cap. 345. (a) the provisions of the  Financial Markets Act; 
S.L.345.04. (b) the provisions of the Regulated Markets
(Authorisation Requirements) Regulations;
L.N. 391. (c) Deleted by Legal Notice 137 of 2022.
shall also be considered as an infringement of MiFID and of
the Financial Markets Act and thereafter subject to the applica bility
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of these regulations.
(5) The provision of investment services without the
required authorisation or approval contrary to the requirementsprescribed in:
(a) the provisions of Article 7(1) on the
requirement of market operators and investment firmsoperating a trading venue to obtain the competent authority’sprior approval of the proposed arrangement for deferred tradepublication and to disclose these arrangements to the marketparticipants and to  the public; and
(b) the provisions of Article 11(1) on the
requirement applicable to market operators and investmentfirms operating a trading venue to obtain authorisation fromthe competent authority for deferred publication of the detailsof transactions based on the si ze and type of the transaction;
(c)  the provisions of Article 27b of MiFIR on the
requirements for authorisation to operate an APA or ARM,where an APA or ARM has a derogation in accordance withArticle 2(3) of MiFIR;
shall also be considered as an infringement of MiFIR and
thereafter subject to the appli cability of these regulations.
(6) Failure to cooperate or comply in an investigation or
with an inspection or request covered by Article 69 of MiFID sh all
also be considered an infringement and subject to the applicabi lity of
these regulations. 
Right of Appeal.
Cap. 330.
Cap. 345.8. S u b j e c t  t o  t h e  p r o v i s i o n s  o f  t h e  A c t s ,  a n y  p e r s o n  i n
respect of whom a decision is taken by the competent authority under
these regulations may appeal to the Financial Services Tribunal  i n
terms of article 21 of the Malta Financial Services Act and art icle 42
of  the  F ina ncial M ar kets  Act a nd Pa r t V I of  the  Fina ncia l M ar ke ts
Act shall apply  mutatis mutandis to appeals that may be brought
before the Tribunal under this regulation.