2. Background Information
2. Background Information
The European Commission presented the MiCAR proposal on 24 September 2020. It is part of the larger digital finance package, which aims to develop a European approach to foster technological development and ensures financial stability and consumer protection. In addition to MiCAR, the package contains a Digital Finance Strategy, the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA), that covers crypto-asset service providers as well, and the distributed ledger technology (DLT) pilot regime for wholesale uses.
The package bridges a gap in existing EU legislation by ensuring that the current legal framework does not pose obstacles to the use of new digital financial instruments and, at the same time, ensures that such new technologies and products fall within the scope of financial regulation and operational risk management arrangements of firms active in the EU. Thus, the package will support innovation and the uptake of new financial technologies while providing for an appropriate level of consumer and investor protection.
The Council adopted its negotiating mandate on MiCAR on 24 November 2021. Trilogues between the co-legislators started on 31 March 2022 and ended in a provisional agreement reached on 30 June 2022. MiCAR was published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 9 June 2023 following its approval by the European Parliament and entered into force 20 days later, on 29 June 2023.
The timelines below detail the implementation and transitional phase for MiCAR and (i.e. the period of 18-months after full application in December 2024)[1].
