On 15 July 2022, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a final report concerning updates to its 2013 guidelines and recommendations on the scope of the Regulation on credit rating agencies. Specifically, the ESMA is providing additional clarification to paragraphs 14 and 15 of the 2013 guidelines, in particular to the following key elements of private credit ratings:
- How the term “produced pursuant to an individual order” should be interpreted and understood.
- How the term “provided exclusively to the person who placed the order” should be interpreted and understood.
- The boundaries on the sharing of a private credit rating with a “limited number of third parties”.
- The monitoring of the distribution of private credit ratings by the rating provider.
The revised paragraphs of the 2013 guidelines are set out in Annex I of the final report.
The revised paragraphs 14 and 15 of the guidelines will be translated into all official languages of the EU and published on the ESMA’s website. The ESMA will consider the updated 2013 guidelines for the purpose of its supervision 18 months following the date of publication.
