Rulestack

Methodology

Where the data comes from, how items are linked to articles, how the UK comparison is made, and what the index cannot tell you.

Sources

  • EU legislation: consolidated texts and their version history from EUR-Lex and the Publications Office’s CELLAR repository; Level 2 delegated and implementing acts, including repealed ones.
  • ESMA: the Q&A tool, the interactive single rulebook, and guidelines and opinions from ESMA’s library.
  • UK legislation: UK MiFIR and the UK versions of EU Level 2 regulations from legislation.gov.uk, with their change notes.
  • FCA Handbook: through the FCA’s Handbook API, under its terms.
  • Consultations: HM Treasury consultations from GOV.UK; FCA consultation papers and policy statements are discovered through links in Norton Rose Fulbright’s Regulation Tomorrow blog. We do not read the FCA’s website, so FCA papers show their number, title and link, and a summary is pending.

How items are linked to articles

Each link carries a badge saying how it was made:

  • Legal basis: the Level 2 act’s preamble names the article it was made under (“having regard to … and in particular Article 26(9)”).
  • ESMA rulebook: ESMA’s interactive single rulebook files the item under the article.
  • Explicit reference: the source names the article, for example in an ESMA Q&A’s legal references or an FCA Handbook source note. A percentage shows where the reference is not fully certain.
  • Inferred: no source names the article; an AI model matched the item to it, with the confidence shown. Only links at 70% or above are published.
  • Curated: a link recorded in our configuration with the evidence it rests on, where no source states it outright (for example which FCA rules restate a revoked UK MiFIR article).

Items that concern a whole act without naming an article are listed on the act’s page rather than on every article.

Status and versions

“In force”, “applies from” and similar labels are computed for today from the application dates of each amending act, so an article amended by the 2024 MiFIR review shows when each change applies. Where the sources do not give an exact date, the label says so rather than guessing. MiFID II is a directive: the EU side stops at the directive text, and Member State transposition is out of scope.

The UK comparison

  • UK MiFIR keeps the EU article numbers. An article is equivalent when the UK changed it only to make it work after Brexit and the EU has not changed it since 31 December 2020; it has diverged when either side changed it after that date (the note names the amending acts); revoked and restated when the UK revoked it and FCA rules took its place. The comparison is made from dates and change notes, never by comparing wording.
  • MiFID II was transposed in the UK partly in FCA rules. An article is paired with the Handbook provisions whose source notes cite it. “Equivalent” then means neither side has changed since exit; the wording differs because the Handbook transposes the article. Where no Handbook note cites an article, the page says the UK transposition is not traced: it may sit in FSMA, the Regulated Activities Order or other UK legislation.
  • UK versions of EU Level 2 acts are linked act to act. Changes the FCA made to onshored technical standards by its own instruments are not recorded on legislation.gov.uk, so no equivalence status is given for them.

Summaries

Summaries are written by an AI model from the source document and labelled “AI-generated”. They say what a document does in one to three sentences; they can be wrong, and the source always prevails.

Law-firm commentary

Commentary is collected only from firms whose website terms allow it, and only as a title, date and link with a one-line description of what it covers. Firms whose terms do not allow collection or linking are not included.

Licences and acknowledgements

EU legislation © European Union, reused under the Commission’s reuse policy. UK legislation is Crown copyright, reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. ESMA material © ESMA.

FCA Handbook references © FCA, used under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Rulestack is independent and not endorsed by the FCA.