On 1 February 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a public statement on how derivatives data reported under EMIR should be handled in the event that the UK leaves the EU without a Withdrawal Agreement (i.e. a hard Brexit scenario).

In the event of a hard Brexit, UK counterparties would not be mandated to report under EMIR to EU27 trade repositories. The statement clarifies:

• reporting by central counterparties and counterparties;
• reconciliation and recordkeeping by trade repositories;
• access by EU27 authorities; and
• portability and aggregation by trade repositories.