Global Regulation Tomorrow

On 13 March 2024, the European Banking Authority (EBA) published a final report containing draft regulatory technical standards (RTS) to specify the requirements, templates and procedures for handling complaints received by issuers of asset reference tokens (ARTs) under Article 31 of the Regulation on markets in crypto-assets (MiCAR).

The draft RTS set out:

• Requirements related to the complaints management policy and function.
• The provision of information to holders of ARTs and other interested parties.
• Templates, recordings, and languages.
• The procedure to investigate complaints and to communicate the outcome of investigations to complainants.
• Specific provisions for complaints handling involving third party entities.

The draft RTS were the subject of a public consultation between 12 July 2023 and 12 October 2023 and general support was demonstrated for the approach proposed by the EBA. However, as some respondents expressed a preference for a more uniform approach between the EBA’s RTS and the equivalent RTS by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) on complaints handling for crypto asset service providers, the EBA will make a small number of targeted amendments with the aim of providing clarification. This is with a particular objective to align with the ESMA’s requirements on language, data protection and procedures surrounding submissions of electronic complaints.

Next steps

The draft RTS will be submitted to the European Commission for endorsement by 30 June 2024 following which they will be subject to scrutiny by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU before being published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ).The draft RTS shall enter into force on the twentieth day following their publication in the OJ.