On 18 June 2019, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) updated its Q&As on the implementation of the Central Securities Depository Regulation (CSDR).

The ESMA press release that accompanies this latest version of the Q&As states that the updates:

• clarify the interaction between the main authorisation procedure (Article 17 of the CSDR) and the passporting procedure (Article 23(2) of the CSDR), and the benefit of the grandfathering rule for notary and central maintenance services provided on a cross-border basis prior to the authorisation of the central security depository (CSD);
• details what should be considered as a change in the range of services provided on a cross-border basis (provision of new core service or provision of same service in respect of a new type of financial instrument);
• clarify how “where relevant” used in Article 23(3)(e) of the CSDR should be understood: whenever there are requirements under the national law of the host Member State that the CSD has determined as being relevant for the users of each cross-border service it provides or intends to provide; and
• address the process to be followed in case a host Member State authority disapproves the assessment of the measures proposed by the CSD to comply with the law of that host Member State.