In this first consultation paper 'Technical Standards specifying certain requirements of the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCA)', ESMA is seeking input on proposed rules for cryptoasset service providers (CASPs), in particular related to their authorisation, identification and management of conflicts of interests and also how CASPs should address complaints. Comments should be sent by 20 September 2023.  

ESMA plans to publish its second consultation paper in October 2023 and the third paper in Q1 2024.

Verena Ross, Chair of ESMA, said:

“This first consultation package is an important milestone for ESMA in the implementation of the MiCA framework. It translates our ambition to set high regulatory standards in the EU for cryptoasset-related activities into concrete requirements.

"We are determined to ensure entities involved in cryptoasset-related activities understand that the EU is not a place for forum-shopping.  We also want to remind consumers that, even with the implementation of MiCA, there will be no such thing as a safe cryptoasset.”

ESMA will consider the feedback received and expects to publish a final report and submit the draft technical standards to the European Commission for endorsement by 30 June 2024.

One of the Commission's three key objectives of the 2020 Capital Markets Union Action Plan was to make the EU a safer place for citizens to invest in the long term. 

The package includes wide-ranging measures to:  

• "Improve the way information is provided to retail investors about investment products and services, in ways that are more meaningful and standardised, by adapting disclosure rules to the digital age and investors' growing sustainability preferences;
• Increase transparency and comparability of costs by requiring the use of a standard presentation and terminology on costs.
• Ensure all retail clients receive at least annually a clear view of the investment performance of their portfolio; 
• Address potential conflicts of interest in the distribution of investment products by banning inducements for "execution-only” sales (i.e. where no advice is provided) and ensuring that financial advice is aligned with retail investors' best interests. Stricter safeguards and transparency will also be introduced where inducements are allowed;
• Protect retail investors from misleading marketing by ensuring that financial intermediaries are fully responsible for the use (and misuse) of their marketing communication, including where it is made via social media, or via celebrities or other third parties they remunerate or incentivise.
• Preserve high standards of professional qualifications for financial advisors.
• Empower consumers to make better financial decisions by encouraging Member States to implement national measures that can support citizens' financial literacy, regardless of their age, and social and educational background.
• Reduce administrative burdens and improve the accessibility of products and services for sophisticated retail investors, by making the eligibility criteria to become a professional investor more proportionate.
• Enhance supervisory cooperation to make it easier for national competent authorities and European Supervisory Authorities to ensure that rules are properly and effectively applied in a coherent manner across the EU and to jointly fight fraud and malpractices." 

The package is wide-ranging in scope and touches on the entire investment journey of the consumer. It consists of an amending Directive, which revises the existing rules set out in the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II), the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD), the Undertaking for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities (UCITS) Directive, the Alternative Investment Fund Managers  Directive (AIFMD), and the taking-up and pursuit of the business of Insurance and Reinsurance Directive (Solvency II), as well as an amending Regulation, which revises the Packaged Retail and Insurance-based Investment Products (PRIIPs) Regulation.

The Commission also published Q&As on the Retail Investment Package and a Factsheet.