Attachment

THE EEA JOINT COMMITTEE,

Having regard to the Agreement on the European Economic Area (‘the EEA Agreement’), and in particular Article 98 thereof,

Whereas:

Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012^f1, as corrected by OJ L 270, 15.10.2015, p. 4, OJ L 187, 12.7.2016, p. 30 and OJ L 278, 27.10.2017, p. 54, is to be incorporated into the EEA Agreement.

Regulation (EU) 2016/1033 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 June 2016 amending Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 on markets in financial instruments, Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 on market abuse and Regulation (EU) No 909/2014 on improving securities settlement in the European Union and on central securities depositories^f2 is to be incorporated into the EEA Agreement.

Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Directive 2002/92/EC and Directive 2011/61/EU^f3, as corrected by OJ L 188, 13.7.2016, p. 28, OJ L 273, 8.10.2016, p. 35 and OJ L 64, 10.3.2017, p. 116, is to be incorporated into the EEA Agreement.

Directive (EU) 2016/1034 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 June 2016 amending Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments^f4 is to be incorporated into the EEA Agreement.

Directive 2014/65/EU repeals Directive 2004/39/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council^f5, which is incorporated into the EEA Agreement and which is consequently to be repealed under the EEA Agreement.

Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 specifies cases in which the European Banking Authority (EBA) and European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) may temporarily prohibit or restrict certain financial activities, and lays down conditions thereto, in accordance with Article 9(5) of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council^f6 and of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council^f7, respectively. For the purposes of the EEA Agreement, these powers are to be exercised by the EFTA Surveillance Authority as regards the EFTA States, in accordance with points 31g and 31i of Annex IX to the EEA Agreement. To ensure integration of the expertise of EBA and ESMA in the process and consistency between the two pillars of the EEA, such decisions of the EFTA Surveillance Authority will be adopted on the basis of drafts prepared by EBA or ESMA, as the case may be. This will preserve key advantages of supervision by a single authority.

The Contracting Parties share the understanding that this Decision implements the agreement that was reflected in the conclusions^f8 of the EU and EEA EFTA Ministers of Finance and Economy of 14 October 2014 regarding the incorporation of the EU ESAs Regulations into the EEA Agreement.

Annex IX to the EEA Agreement should therefore be amended accordingly,

HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION: