17.III.1 General

MiFID II requires equity pre- and post-trade data that needs to be published under MiFID II to be made available on a ‘reasonable commercial basis’.1 Whilst MiFID I already provided a similar requirement,2MiFID II introduces details on what a ‘reasonable commercial basis’ constitutes. Therewith, the EU introduces new top-down elements in the area of data pricing regulation.3 The MiFID II pricing-rules aim to find a balance between two aims. First, MiFID II wishes to (a) enhance transparency about data prices to enable data users to know what they are paying for4 and (b) determine equity pre- and post-trade data prices on the basis of the costs of data production and dissemination.5 The objective here is to reduce data prices compared to MiFID I.6 Second, MiFID II wants to give data suppliers (e.g. RMs, MTFs, SIs or APAs) the ability to obtain a ‘reasonable margin’ for supplying the data.7 This reflects the aim of having sufficient incentives for data suppliers in terms of innovation and diversity in data products.8 In effect, the MiFID II data pricing-rules fall between two stools. On the one hand, MiFID II wants to bring prices down compared to MiFID I. On the other hand, MiFID II wants to keep the supply of data a commercial activity, as reflected in the term reasonable ‘commercial’ basis. MiFID II does this by providing flexibility for data suppliers (e.g. broad terms of a ‘reasonable margin’). The current MiFID II approach is part of the MiFID II Review (see section V below).