IRELAND Law and Practice Contributed by: Keith Robinson, Barry Tyrrell and Julia Mullin, Dillon Eustace LLP
Markets in Crypto-Assets Markets in Crypto-Assets (“MiCA”) was pub - lished in the Official Journal of the European Union in June 2023. It became applicable to issuers of asset referenced tokens and electron - ic money tokens in June 2024 and will become applicable to providers of crypto-asset services on 30 December 2024. MiCA brings crypto-assets under a pan-EU regulatory framework that seeks to ensure increased transparency, investor protection and financial stability. It prescribes uniform require - ments for the offering and admitting to trading of crypto-assets and for crypto-asset service pro - viders (“CASPs”). These rules include transpar - ency and disclosure requirements, authorisation and supervision requirements, requirements for the protection of holders of crypto-assets and the clients of CASPs, and measures to prevent market abuse such as insider dealing or market manipulation. MiCA establishes a more comprehensive finan - cial services regulatory framework than the cur - rent virtual asset service provider regime. While there are therefore similarities between virtual asset services and crypto-asset services, where an entity is providing crypto-asset services from 30 December 2024, they will require authorisa - tion as a CASP. Finance Act 2024 The Finance Act 2024 contains changes to the Irish legislation implementing the EU Directive ensuring a global minimum level of taxation for multinational enterprise groups and large-scale domestic groups in Europe. The Finance Act 2024 incorporates elements of the third set of OECD Administrative Guidance published on 18 December 2023.
The Irish legislation incorporating this anti-avoid - ance for certain hybrid arbitrage arrangements will apply to fiscal years beginning or after 31 December 2024 to hybrid arbitrage arrange - ments entered into after 15 December 2022. The Finance Act 2024 also includes revisions to Irish transfer pricing rules for the purpose of sim - plifying certain elements of these rules. The Finance Act 2024 clarifies the application of the 6% rate of stamp duty to residential prop - erty. The increased rate of stamp duty on bulk purchases of residential units has also been included in the Finance Act 2024. These new rules will affect instruments executed on or after 2 October 2024, subject to a transi - tion period of three months for instruments exe - cuted before 1 January 2025 where the instru - ment contains a prescribed statement, certifying that the instrument was executed solely in pur - suance of a binding contract entered into before 2 October 2024. The European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) The European Accessibility Act (Directive (EU) 2019/882) (the “EAA”) has been implement - ed into Irish law through the European Union (Accessibility Requirements of Products and Services) Regulations 2023 (the “EAA Regula - tions”) and will apply from 28 June 2025. The EAA harmonises accessibility requirements across the EU to ensure that certain products and services are accessible to all, particularly those with disabilities. It sets out comprehensive requirements for a wide range of products and services including ATMs; smartphones; banking services; e-books; e-commerce services; and telecommunications. It emphasises the need
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