On 8 July 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a Consultation Paper on the review of the regulatory technical standards (RTS) on the form and content of an application for recognition under the Benchmarks Regulation (BMR).

Article 32(9) of the BMR states that the ESMA may develop RTS to determine the form and content of the application for recognition and the presentation of the information necessary to satisfy a Member State competent authority that the conditions for recognition are met. The RTS were set out in a Delegated Regulation which was published in the Official Journal in 2018. The RTS specifies the information relating to the administrator of the benchmarks and its legal representative in the Union as well as the information on the benchmarks provided. Regulation (EU) 2019/2175 made two amendments to the recognition regime under Article 32 of the BMR, it deleted the determination of the Member State of reference and made the ESMA the competent authority for recognising and supervising third-country benchmark administrators.

In the Consultation Paper the ESMA suggests making amendments to the RTS to reflect the changes made to Article 32 of the BMR. It also proposes amendments taking into account the shortcomings identified whilst Member State competent authorities recognised and supervised third country administrators, specifically relating to missing information of an application for recognition.

The ESMA will consider the responses to the Consultation Paper when amending the draft RTS for submission to the European Commission for adoption in the final legal text. The closing date for responses is 9 September 2022.