On 7 December 2009, the EU Regulation 1060/09 on Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) entered into effect. Following the announcement of the creation of ESMA, the CRA Regulation was been revised in December 2010. The revised Regulation gives ESMA an exclusive responsibility for the registration and supervision of credit rating agencies in the European Union. According to the Regulation, ESMA is required to discharge important co-ordination and advisory functions alongside its traditional role of promoting convergence through Level 3 guidelines and recommendations. Furthermore, the Regulation mandates ESMA to maintain a central repository where information on the past performances of CRAs and information about credit ratings issued in the past are to be kept and made public.

A standing committee has been established to assist in preparing ESMA for these new tasks relating to CRAs. In order to fulfil its objectives, the Standing Committee will:

• Promote convergence in the application by members of the Regulation, facilitate a coherent approach by the competent authorities and enhance legal certainty for market participants. The Standing Committee will prepare and publish common guidelines as required by the regulation.
• Deal with the implementation of the EU Regulation on CRAs. The Standing Committee will undertake the necessary work to enable both ESMA and its members to discharge their functions spelled out in the Regulation.
• Coordinate with other international organisations and third country regulators that are performing activities in relation to CRAs. Among other organisations, the Standing Committee will coordinate with EBA, EIOPA and IOSCO.

A consultative working group has been formed to assist the Technical Committee, and the list of members is available on the right.

Any correspondence regarding the work of this Standing Committee should be sent to the ESMA Staff.