On 26 March 2020, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) launched a consultation paper on draft Regulatory and Implementing Technical Standards (RTS and ITS) under Regulation (EU) 2019/834 (EMIR REFIT).

The ESMA consultation paper covers the technical standards on reporting requirements, procedures to reconcile and validate the data and access by relevant authorities under EMIR REFIT. Also, ESMA proposes to revise certain aspects of reporting to trade repositories (TRs) in order to align the reporting requirements in the EU with the global guidance on harmonisation of over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives data elements reported to TRs, as developed by the CPMI and IOSCO working group for the harmonisation of key OTC derivatives data elements.

Section 4 of the consultation paper describes methods and arrangements that counterparties should have in place in the case of mandatory allocation of responsibility for reporting and of the delegation as well as methods and arrangements to ensure correct reporting. Furthermore, the section clarifies which data standards should be used in the reporting and explains how reporting of lifecycle events and reporting at position level should be performed. Section 4 also discusses the details of the derivatives that should be reported, including an analysis of the data elements recommended in the CPMI and IOSCO guidance. Finally, it includes considerations regarding the date of application of the revised technical standards and the treatment of derivatives that will be outstanding on that date.

ESMA will consider the responses to its consultation paper when developing the draft RTS and ITS for submission to the European Commission for adoption. The closing date for responding to the consultation paper is 19 June 2020.