The CJA applies to shares, debt securities, and rights, such as warrants, options, futures, and contracts for difference, including derivative contracts, which are dealt on or relate to securities traded or quoted on a regulated market.1  For a list of regulated markets, which include major European exchanges, see here.

MAR is broader in scope than the CJA.  The CJA only applies to securities traded on regulated markets.  MAR also applies to a wider range of financial instruments traded on multilateral trading facilities (MTFs) and organized trading facilities (OTFs).  Specifically, MAR applies to the financial instruments set out in Section C of Annex 1 of the Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID II), including equity and debt securities and derivatives, including commodity derivatives:

  • admitted to trading on a regulated market (or for which a request for admission to trading on a regulated market has been made);
  • financial instruments traded or admitted to trading on a MTF or for which a request for admission to trading on an MTF has been made;
  • financial instruments traded on an OTF;
  • financial instruments that do not fall into one of the above categories but the price or value of which depends on, or has an effect on, the price or value of an instrument that does fall into one of those categories; and
  • auctioned emission allowances and auctioned products based on emission allowances.2

For a complete list of financial instruments within the scope of MAR, see the Financial Instruments Reference Database System, available here.


1 Criminal Justice Act 1993 (CJA), c. 36, Schedule 2 (UK).

2 Regulation 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on market abuse (market abuse regulation) (MAR), as retained in the UK by the Market Abuse (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019/310, art. 2(1).

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