BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Joan Carette, Philippe De Prez and Thomas Derval, Simont Braun
intersection with other types of regulation and asset classes. 6.3 Impact of the Emergence of Cryptocurrency Exchanges The emergence of cryptocurrency exchanges has led to the adoption of several regulations, both at the European level and in Belgium. As of 30 December 2024, all centralised and some decentralised exchanges are regulated by MiCA, mak - ing the Belgian virtual asset service provider (VASP) regime (from the AMLD5 framework) obsolete in the near future. In addition, the FSMA Regulation of 5 January 2023 prescribes additional marketing rules when commercialising virtual currencies to consumers in Belgium, irrespective of the location of the adver - tiser. Lastly, the FSMA Regulation of 3 April 2014 pro - hibits the professional marketing of financial products, the return of which depends directly or indirectly on cryptocurrencies. This regulation seriously limits the distribution schemes and structuring of crypto-assets. 6.4 Listing Standards Article 30 of the Investment Services Law requires regulated market operators to ensure that the regu - lated markets they operate and/or manage adopt clear, non-discriminatory, objective and transparent listing standards. These standards must also allow the markets to ensure that the issuers comply with the information requirements under EU law (initial, periodic and occasional information). With respect to derivatives, these listing standards must ensure that the characteristics of the derivatives allow for an orderly rating and efficient settlement. Regulated market rules are subject to the prior approval of the FSMA and must be published on the market operator’s website. OTFs and MTFs are also required to adopt transpar - ent and non-discriminatory listing standards. Gener - ally speaking, OTFs and MTFs are subject to softer requirements than regulated markets. 6.5 Order Handling Rules Market rules must allow for the efficient handling of orders. MiFID II rules of conduct and their delegated
regulations also apply in Belgium, and MiCA intro - duces order handling rules for CASPs. Articles 27quater and 28 of the Financial Supervision Law further specify that regulated entities executing clients’ orders must ensure that these are handled quickly, fairly and efficiently. Regulated entities must also take sufficient measures to ensure that the best possible result is achieved, taking into consideration the price, cost, speed, probability of the execution and the size, nature and any other relevant criteria pertaining to the order (the “best execution” principle). 6.6 Rise of Peer-to-Peer Trading Platforms Due to various legal obstacles, the Belgian market is not yet mature in respect of peer-to-peer trading platforms. Therefore, at this stage, no impact can truly be observed. 6.7 Rules of Payment for Order Flow There is no Belgian specificity in payment for order flow (PFOF). Under the EU MiFID II framework, invest - ment firms acting on behalf of (retail or professional) clients may not receive any fee, commission or non- monetary benefit from any third party for executing orders from those clients on a particular execution venue, nor for forwarding orders of those clients to any third party for their execution on a particular exe - cution venue. The prohibition removes financial incentives that pre - viously drove brokers to route retail flow to specific venues, reinforcing the competitive position of neutral regulated markets. 6.8 Market Integrity Principles Regulation (EU) 596/2014 of 16 April 2014 on market abuse (MAR) and the various Implementing and Del - egated Regulations in this respect are directly applica - ble in Belgium. The Belgian legal framework on prin - ciples regarding market integrity and market abuse governing trading is further complemented by Article 25 and Sections 8 and 9 of Chapter II of the Financial Supervision Law, which lay down the competencies of the FSMA as the supervisor in this respect and the applicable sanctions. In addition, in its Circular of 18 May 2016, the FSMA provides practical instructions, accompanying the ESMA guidelines accompanying
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