On 5 January 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) issued a paper ‘Methodology for Mandatory Peer Reviews in relation to CCPs’ authorisation and supervision under EMIR’.

The European Markets Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), as amended by European Regulation No 2019/2099 (EMIR 2.2) requires ESMA to undertake, at least annually, a peer review analysis of the supervisory activities of all Member State competent authorities in relation to the authorisation and supervision of central counterparties (CCPs) in accordance with Article 30 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/20103 establishing the European Supervisory Authorities (ESMA Regulation).

This latest paper replaces an earlier paper on the same topic that ESMA published on 5 January 2017 per the mandates set out in EMIR and the ESMA Regulation. The new paper reflects the changes to the regulatory framework for peer reviews introduced in December 2019 with EMIR 2.2 and Regulation (EU) 2019/2175 amending the ESMA Regulation and is based on the July 2018 ESMA Peer Review Methodology.

The paper is divided in 4 titles. The first title provides an overview of the peer review framework and process. The second title relates to the determination of topics for peer reviews. The third describes the peer review process. The fourth title relates to the framework for the follow-up to peer reviews.