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U.S. securities regulators are going ahead with the initial phase of their pilot study to examine the impact of trading fee models.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has announced it will launch the pre-pilot period of its study on trading fee-rebate models on July 1. It will run until Dec. 31.

Last year, the SEC set out plans for a pilot study to generate data that will help the regulator analyze the effects of exchange trading fee and rebate pricing models on order routing, execution quality and market quality.

Earlier this year, a trio of U.S. exchanges launched a court challenge to block the exercise. The SEC has stayed parts of the study pending the outcome of the exchanges’ lawsuit, but the pre-pilot period will go ahead.

As a result of the partial stay, during the pre-pilot period, exchanges will be required to comply with data compilation requirements, but will not have to transmit order routing data to the SEC, or to publicly post trading fee summaries.

The Canadian Securities Administrators (CSA) have proposed their own study to examine the impact of banning trading rebates, which would be coordinated with the U.S. study.