Reasons for publication
This final report proposes amending Article 26 of the Commission Delegated Regulation No 153/2013 with regard to regulatory technical standards (RTS) on requirements for central counterparties (CCP) on the time horizons for the liquidation period which European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has drafted under the Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and Council on Over-The-Counter (OTC) derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories (EMIR).

In relation to the draft amended technical standards, ESMA consulted stakeholders on two occasions: the first consultation on a Discussion Paper (DP) was conducted from 27 August to 30 September 2015; the second, on the consultation paper (CP) including the proposed draft RTS was carried out from 14 December 2015 to 1st February 2016.

ESMA received a strong support from the respondents to the CP on the proposed amendment introducing the possibility for EU CCPs to margin on a one day gross basis for clients’ accounts. The responses to the consultation confirm that a one day gross account structure provides a sufficient level of protection to the CCPs and to the clients.

On the proposed conditions linked to this type of account, the majority of the respondents are of the view that they are needed to ensure the safety of the CCPs. Some clarifications or slight amendments have been introduced following the comments received, in particular on intraday margins calls and on entities belonging to the same group as clearing members.

Contents
This paper provides explanations on the draft regulatory technical standards amending the Commission Delegated Regulation No 153/2013 with regard to RTS on requirements for CCP. This report explains the rationale and the scope of the review of Article 26 of RTS No 153/2013 carried out by ESMA. It summarizes the answers received following the publication of the consultation paper and it provides the explanations on whether and how the concerns expressed by stakeholders have been reflected in the final draft RTS.
Annexed to this final report are the legislative mandates related to the draft RTS (Annex I), the ESMA cost-benefit-analysis (Annex II) and the draft RTS (Annex III).

Next Steps
Following the submission of the amended draft RTS to the European Commission, it has three months to decide whether to endorse ESMA’s draft RTS.

Article 7(5) of MAR provides that the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) shall issue guidelines to establish a non-exhaustive indicative list of information which is reasonably expected or is required to be disclosed in accordance with legal or regulatory provisions in Union or national law, market rules, contract, practice or custom, on the relevant commodity derivatives markets or spot markets as referred to in Article 7(1)(b) of MAR. This final report follows the Consultation Paper (CP) issued on March 2016.

Contents

Section 2 contains information on the background and mandate, while Section 3 sets out ESMA’s feedback to the CP responses in relation to the scope of the guidelines, the financial instruments and products covered by the examples of information relating directly and indirectly to commodity derivatives and information directly relating to a spot market contract. It also indicates whether and where ESMA has changed the guidelines following the consultation.

Annex I lists questions raised in the CP. Annex 2 provides the legislative mandate on the basis of which ESMA is issuing these guidelines. Annex 3 sets out ESMA’s view on the costs and benefits associated with these guidelines. Annex 4 contains the text of the guidelines.

Next steps

The guidelines in Annex 4 will be translated into the official languages of the European Union and published on the ESMA’s website. Within 2 months of the issuance of the translations, each national competent authority will have to confirm whether it complies or intends to comply with those guidelines. In the event that a national competent authority does not comply or does not intend to comply, it will have to inform ESMA, stating its reasons. ESMA will publish the fact that a national competent authority does not comply or does not intend to comply with those guidelines.