The European Court of Justice (ECJ) has dismissed the UK’s challenge to the powers conferred on the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) in the Short Selling Regulation (SSR). The SSR provides that ESMA can adopt measures that are legally binding
on EU Members States' financial markets where there is a threat to the orderly functioning and integrity of financial markets or to the stability of the whole or part of the financial system in the EU. These powers of intervention were challenged by the UK
which had sought an annulment of this article (28). The ECJ dismissed the action in its entirety on the basis that the SSR does not confer any autonomous power on ESMA that goes beyond powers granted to ESMA when it was created.
Related link:
http://curia.europa.eu/jcms/upload/docs/application/pdf/2014-01/cp140007en.pdf