THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments [OJ L 173, 12.6.2014, p. 173.], and in particular Article 57(3) and (12) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) In order to ensure a harmonised approach to applying position limits to commodity derivatives in the Union, a methodology should be specified for calculating those limits. The methodology should prevent regulatory arbitrage and promote consistency whilst providing competent authorities with sufficient flexibility to take into account the variations among different commodity derivatives markets and the markets in the underlying commodities. The methodology for calculating the limits should allow competent authorities to balance the objectives of setting limits at a level sufficiently low to prevent persons holding positions in those commodity derivatives from abusing or distorting the market against the objectives of supporting orderly pricing and settlement arrangements, developing new commodity derivatives and enabling commodity derivatives to continue to support the functioning of commercial activities in the underlying commodity market.

(2) In order to clearly identify a limited number of concepts stemming from Directive 2014/65/EU, as well as to specify technical terms necessary for this Regulation, a number of terms should be defined to ensure uniform application.