From September 3, 2026, European Union trading venues switch to a rebuilt weekly commodity derivatives position report — two files instead of one, spot emission allowances removed, energy positions expressed in megawatt hours — while the Implementing Technical Standard that is supposed to authorise the new format is still sitting with the European Commission, unadopted.

The European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) confirmed on August 14, 2026 that the framework goes live on September 3, validated against extensible Markup Language (XML) schema version 2.0. The legal driver is Article 58 of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II) as replaced by Directive (EU) 2024/790, which Member States had to transpose by September 29, 2025 — an 11-month window in which the obligation existed and the reporting channel did not.

Methodology and sources

Dates, thresholds and field definitions come from primary documents only. Operational detail comes from ESMA’s Interface Specifications Document for Commodities Derivatives Weekly Position Reporting, ESMA65-955014868-14991 version 2.0, republished on August 14, 2026 alongside XML schema ESMA65-955014868-14993. Legal analysis draws on the consolidated EUR-Lex texts of MiFID II, Directive (EU) 2024/790, CDR (EU) 2017/565 and Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1093 (ITS 4), checked on August 30, 2026, plus ESMA’s Final Report ESMA74-2134169708-7577 of December 16, 2024 and its transition statement of October 10, 2025. Comparative material comes from the Financial Conduct Authority’s Policy Statement PS25/1 and instrument FCA 2025/4, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC) Commitments of Traders methodology. Scope is the EU, the UK and the US; drafts and proposals are identified as such.

What actually changes at the first cut-off — and why the Level 2 text is not law yet

The new report is two files, not one. The revised Article 58(1)(a) of MiFID II removes spot emission allowances from position reporting — derivatives on them stay in scope — and makes a venue listing options publish a second weekly report excluding options. ESMA implemented the split with one field: “Report type” carries COMB where options are folded in on a delta-equivalent basis, FUTR where they are excluded. It is conditional; per footnote 2 of ESMA’s Final Report, “the obligation to publish two reports concerns only trading venues offering both futures and options when the threshold set out in Article 83 of CDR 2017/565 is met. Trading venues offering only futures will continue to publish only one report.”

The second change costs more engineering time. The “Notation of the position quantity” field now accepts LOTS, MWHO, MBTU and THMS — lots, megawatt hours, million British thermal units and therms. Electricity and natural gas derivatives must be expressed in the unit of the underlying so positions aggregate across venues; everything else stays in lots. ESMA’s July 2026 assessment valued EU carbon markets at €777 billion in 2025.

The mechanics are otherwise stable. Submitting entities are the investment firms and market operators running the venue. The period is Monday to Friday, the reference date that Friday, and the file must reach ESMA before 5:30 PM Central European Time. Report status is NEWT, AMND or CANC; venues are identified by segment Market Identifier Code under ISO 10383; where fewer than five holders are active in a category the count is suppressed and the field carries a full stop. ESMA then copies the file to the national competent authority (NCA) and publishes centrally.

The Article 83 trigger decides who files at all: a venue publishes only where 20 open position holders exist in a contract — counted across all categories of person — and gross long or short open interest, in lots, exceeds four times the deliverable supply. That second limb is disapplied where there is no physically deliverable underlying and for emission allowance derivatives. A contract crossing both limbs must be reported within three weeks; one that stops meeting them for a further three months.

The Level 2 text behind September 3 has not been adopted

ESMA submitted the amending draft ITS 4 to the European Commission in December 2024, together with technical advice to replace Article 83 of CDR 2017/565. As of August 30, 2026 the EUR-Lex “Modified by” record for Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/1093 shows one modifying act — Implementing Regulation (EU) 2022/1300, effective August 15, 2022. The December 2024 amendment is absent. Venues therefore file the new two-file format on September 3 against a technical specification, not adopted law.

That gap has a concrete edge. ESMA’s advice proposed replacing the four-times-deliverable-supply limb of Article 83(1)(b) with a flat 10,000-lot threshold on futures and options combined. Because it is unadopted, the live trigger remains 20 open position holders plus four times deliverable supply — consolidated Article 83 on EUR-Lex says so, and so does ESMA’s own August 14, 2026 specification. Secondary write-ups quote the 10,000-lot figure as though it were in force; it is not. ESMA also declined to settle how a lot threshold applies to positions reported in megawatt hours, saying it “intends to address it via a Q&A, in accordance with Article 16b of the ESMA Regulation.” That Q&A has not issued.

How the EU, UK and US commitment-of-traders regimes diverge

Jurisdiction / Regulator	Effective date	Scope	Key requirement	Penalty / sanction
EU (ESMA and national competent authorities under MiFID II)	September 3, 2026 (system); September 29, 2025 (Level 1 obligation)	Investment firms and market operators running venues that list commodity derivatives or derivatives on emission allowances	Article 58(1)(a) MiFID II: two weekly reports (COMB and FUTR) where options are listed; spot emission allowances excluded; filed by 5:30 PM CET in ISO 20022 XML schema v2.0	Article 70(6)(f) MiFID II: at least €5 million or up to 10% of total annual turnover for a legal person; at least €5 million for a natural person
UK (Financial Conduct Authority)	July 6, 2026 (PS25/1 rules)	Trading venue operators, UK firms and UK branches of third-country firms operating an MTF or OTF	MAR 10.4.1A: one weekly report per contract to the FCA by 5:30 PM on the Wednesday of the following week, in common standard XML; emission allowances retained in scope; MAR 10.4.3A keeps the 20-holder and four-times-deliverable-supply test	Unlimited financial penalty under section 206 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, set by the FCA’s five-step penalty framework
US (Commodity Futures Trading Commission)	Long-standing; weekly cycle	Reportable positions on designated contract markets in markets where 20 or more traders hold positions at or above CFTC reporting levels	Commitments of Traders: breakdown of each Tuesday’s open interest published the following Friday at 3:30 PM Eastern Time, in both futures-only and futures-and-options-combined form	Civil monetary penalties under the Commodity Exchange Act; CFTC ordered Cargill Inc. to pay $750,000 on September 30, 2021 for large trader reporting failures

Sources: Directive 2014/65/EU; Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565; FCA PS25/1 and instrument FCA 2025/4; CFTC Commitments of Traders. Last updated: August 30, 2026.

The EU has taken the American two-report convention but attached it to a threshold the Americans do not use: the CFTC triggers on 20 or more traders at or above its reporting levels, the EU on 20 holders plus four times deliverable supply. The UK went the other way, keeping one report and the emission-allowance scope the EU has dropped. The result is a data seam through a single contract: from September 3 an EU power future produces two ESMA files in megawatt hours, an equivalent UK contract one FCA file, in lots, that still counts emission allowances — a different unit, report count and instrument list for the same exposure, and the fragmentation the EU attacks in the EMIR 3.0 active-account rule for London euro clearing.

“Let me stress that simplification does not mean deregulation. It means making rules clearer, reducing unnecessary reporting fields and flows, as well as making processes more efficient and obligations more proportionate.”

— Verena Ross, Chair, European Securities and Markets Authority (Opening statement, ESMA Data Day, December 2, 2025)

Enforcement context: what regulators actually punish

Position reporting failures rarely produce headline penalties, but Article 70(3)(a)(xxxvi) of MiFID II lists breaches of Article 58(1) to (4) among the infringements carrying administrative sanctions, and Article 70(6)(f) to (h) sets the floor for a legal person: at least €5 million or up to 10% of total annual turnover, or twice any quantifiable benefit derived.

The best-documented comparator is American. On September 30, 2021 the CFTC ordered Cargill Inc., a provisionally registered swap dealer, to pay a $750,000 civil monetary penalty. From roughly June 2017 to June 2019 Cargill “failed to include new swaps in its daily large trader reports (LTRs) and its submissions on CFTC Form 102S”. The cause was mundane: it moved its reporting from one swap data repository to another and did not update its feeds. The supervisory finding is the part to read twice — Cargill “did not have adequate internal processes in place to determine the accuracy or completeness of its swap reporting and did not notice the omission of new swaps from its LTRs and Form 102S submissions for nearly two years.”

Europe has its own precedent for penalising reporting infrastructure rather than trading conduct: ESMA fined a DTCC trade repository €408,000 for EMIR breaches. A cut-over changing a field format, a unit and the number of files at once is the configuration that produced the Cargill omissions — which is why five large banks pursued a reporting utility with Endoxa.

What this means for venues, brokers, commodity desks and compliance

Trading venues and market operators. You are the submitting entity: v2.0 schema in production, COMB/FUTR logic wired to your product taxonomy, unit conversion for every electricity and gas contract, a tested AMND/CANC path. Both files publish together where the Article 83 test is met on futures and options combined — even where futures alone would fail it.

Brokers, futures commission merchants and clearing members. You do not file, but your client categorisation populates the file. The five ESMA categories — investment firms and credit institutions; investment funds; other financial institutions; commercial undertakings; and, for emission allowance derivatives, operators under Directive 2003/87/EC — set the published breakdown. PS25/1 feedback recorded that inconsistent categorisation of the same client by different members already degrades the data; splitting the report in two multiplies that effect.

Commodity desks and fund managers. The published series breaks on September 3. Any model calibrated on a single weekly file, in lots, that included spot emission allowances faces a units change, a scope change and a second file; treat the two series as discontinuous.

Legal and compliance. Document why you are filing to a technical specification whose Implementing Regulation is unadopted, record the Article 83 threshold you applied, and keep the lot-to-megawatt-hour mapping in writing, because the settling Q&A does not exist. Firms that lived through the designated publishing entity go-live for OTC transaction reporting know the drill: after a cut-over the supervisory question is never only “did you file”, but “can you show what you filed and why”.

“The lack of COT transparency has turned positioning analysis into detective work. Traders are increasingly relying on proxies — changes in the open interest on individual futures markets, ETF flows, options market activity, futures curve shape, and visible stock movements — to gauge sentiment.”

— Ole Hansen, Head of Commodity Strategy, Saxo (Saxo, October 20, 2025)

Hansen was describing the 43-day US federal shutdown that suspended CFTC Commitments of Traders publication from October 1 to November 12, 2025 — evidence that degrading this file, even briefly, is not a back-office matter.

What is next: the forward view

Three things are outstanding. First, Commission adoption of the amending ITS 4 and the revised RTS on position management controls, both submitted in December 2024; until they reach the Official Journal the September 3 format runs ahead of its own legal instrument and the Article 83 threshold stays at four times deliverable supply. Second, the promised ESMA Q&A on the lot-based threshold. Third, the European Commission’s wider commodity derivatives review, opened by targeted consultation on February 26, 2025, which is weighing position limits, the ancillary activities exemption and a single collecting entity for commodity derivative transactions — an answer that would rebuild this pipeline again.

One adjacent file should not be confused with this one: on August 18, 2026 ESMA opened a consultation on annual reporting of clearing activity at recognised third-country CCPs under EMIR — a clearing-side proposal, not a MiFID position reporting change. On the American direction of travel, see our analysis of the CFTC’s move to end the SEF order-book rule for permitted swaps and of the compute derivatives notice. ESMA’s habit of naming national authorities rather than firms — see its cross-border peer review naming BaFin and CySEC — suggests the first consequence of a poor migration is NCA-level pressure, not penalties. A reprieve, not an exemption.

Frequently asked questions

What exactly goes live on September 3, 2026?

ESMA’s rebuilt weekly commodity derivatives position reporting framework, on XML schema version 2.0. Venues submit to ESMA’s HUBEX system in ISO 20022 XML by 5:30 PM Central European Time for the previous Monday-to-Friday period, the Friday being the reference date. ESMA confirmed the date on August 14, 2026, after pulling the original April 1, 2026 go-live on March 27 over final-testing issues.

Which firms have to file, and which do not?

The submitting entity is the investment firm or market operator running the venue on which commodity derivatives or derivatives on emission allowances trade. Position holders, brokers and clearing members do not file; their positions reach the report through the venue’s aggregation, and their categorisation sets the published breakdown. Firms using the Article 2(1)(j) ancillary activities exemption are not investment firms, but their positions still appear.

Why are there two reports now instead of one?

Article 58(1)(a) of MiFID II, as replaced by Directive (EU) 2024/790, requires venues listing options to publish a second weekly report excluding options, via a “Report type” field: COMB combines futures and options on a delta-equivalent basis, FUTR excludes them. Venues listing only futures keep one report, mirroring the CFTC’s series.

Are emission allowances still reported?

Derivatives on emission allowances remain in scope. Spot allowances do not — the revised Article 58 removed them, and ESMA deleted the references from ITS 4. For emission allowance derivatives the second Article 83 limb, deliverable supply, does not apply. The UK has not followed: FCA rules keep allowances in the weekly report.

What are the thresholds that pull a contract into the report?

Under Article 83 of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2017/565 both limbs must be met: 20 open position holders in the contract on that venue, and gross long or short open interest above four times deliverable supply, in lots. ESMA has advised replacing the second limb with a flat 10,000-lot test, but that advice is unadopted, so four times deliverable supply remains the live threshold.

What happens if a venue files late or files wrong data?

ESMA processes late files but emails a missing-report reminder to the submitting entity and an ESMA business officer, creating a supervisory record. Corrections run through AMND and CANC. Enforcement sits with national competent authorities: Article 58(1) to (4) is a listed infringement under Article 70(3), exposing a legal person to at least €5 million or 10% of turnover, or twice any benefit.

Is this the same as ESMA’s August 2026 consultation on third-country CCPs?

No. On August 18, 2026 ESMA opened a separate consultation on annual reporting of clearing activity at recognised third-country central counterparties under EMIR, proposing new regulatory and implementing technical standards. That is a clearing-side file with its own legal basis and respondents, and has no bearing on the MiFID II Article 58 weekly commodity position report.

This article is informational analysis only and does not constitute legal, regulatory, tax, or investment advice. Regulatory frameworks change frequently and interpretation depends on facts and circumstances; primary documents and official regulator guidance always supersede summaries. Firms should consult qualified legal counsel and their relevant supervisory authority before taking any action based on the analysis above.