What changed between the draft committee report and the plenary report

Added:When determining whether the condition referred to in the first subparagraph is fulfilled and assessing the compliance with the IOSCO principles for financial benchmarks or the IOSCO principles for PRAs, as applicable, ESMA may take into account:

Added:(a) an assessment of the administrator located in a third country by an independent external auditor;

Added:(b) a certification provided by the competent authority of the third country where that administrator is located.

Added:Where, and to the extent that, a third country administrator is able to demonstrate that a benchmark it provides is a regulated-data benchmark or a commodity benchmark that is not based on submissions by contributors the majority of which are supervised entities, the administrator shall not be obliged to comply with the requirements which, pursuant to Article 17 and Article 19(1), are not applicable to the provision of regulated-data benchmarks and of commodity benchmarks.

Added:3. An administrator located in a third country intending to obtain recognition shall have a legal representative. The legal representative shall be a ▌legal person located in the Union and expressly appointed by that administrator to act on behalf of that administrator with regard to the administrator’s obligations under this Regulation. The legal representative shall, together with the administrator, perform the oversight function relating to the provision of benchmarks performed by the administrator under this Regulation and▌ be accountable to ESMA. ESMA may impose a supervisory measure in accordance with Article 48e on the legal representative and the administrator for one of the infringements listed in point (a) of Article 42(1) or in relation to any failure to cooperate or comply in an investigation or with an inspection or request covered by Section 1 of Chapter 4.’;

Added:(c) in paragraph 5, the first subparagraph is replaced by the following:

Added:‘An administrator located in a third country intending to obtain recognition as referred to in paragraph 2 shall apply for recognition with ESMA. The applicant administrator shall provide all information necessary to satisfy ESMA that it has established, at the time of recognition, all the necessary arrangements to meet the requirements laid down in paragraph 2 with respect to its benchmark or benchmarks that have been designated in accordance with Article 24. Where applicable, the applicant administrator shall indicate the competent authority in the third country responsible for its supervision.

Added:Within 15 working days of receipt of the application, ESMA shall assess whether the application is complete and shall notify the applicant accordingly. Where the application is incomplete, the applicant shall submit the additional information required by ESMA. The time limit referred to in this subparagraph shall apply from the date on which the applicant has provided such additional information.’;

Added:(15a) in Article 33(1), the introductory wording is amended as follows:

Added:‘1. An administrator located in the Union and authorised or registered in accordance with Article 34, with a clear and well-defined role under the control or accountability framework of a third country administrator, which is able to monitor effectively the provision of a benchmark, may apply to ESMA to endorse a benchmark or a family of benchmarks provided in a third country for their use in the Union, provided that all of the following conditions are fulfilled:

Added:(15b) Article 33, paragraph 3 is amended as follows:

Added:3. Within 90 working days of receipt of the application for endorsement referred to in paragraph 1, ESMA shall examine the application and adopt a decision either to authorise the endorsement or to refuse it.

Added:(15c) Article 33, paragraph 6 is amended as follows:

Added:6. Where the competent authority of the endorsing administrator has well- founded reasons to consider that the conditions laid down under paragraph 1 of this Article are no longer fulfilled, it shall have the power to require the endorsing administrator to cease the endorsement and shall inform ESMA thereof. Article 28 shall apply in case of cessation of the endorsement.

Added:(16) Article 34 is amended as follows,

Added:(a) paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

Added:‘1. A natural or legal person located in the Union that acts or intends to act as an administrator shall apply to the competent authority designated under Article 40 of the Member State in which that person is located or ESMA in order to receive:

Added:(a) authorisation where it provides or intends to provide indices which are used or intended to be used as critical benchmarks, as significant benchmarks, commodity benchmarks subject to Annex II, as EU Climate Transition Benchmarks or as EU Paris-aligned Benchmarks;

Added:(b) registration where it is a supervised entity, other than an administrator, that provides or intends to provide indices which are used or intended to be used as significant benchmarks, as EU Climate Transition Benchmarks or EU Paris-aligned Benchmarks, provided that the activity of provision of a benchmark is not prevented by the sectoral discipline applying to the supervised entity and that none of the indices provided would qualify as a critical benchmark.’;

Added:(aa) Article 34, paragraph 1a is amended as follows:

Added:1a. Where one or more of the indices provided by the person referred to in paragraph 1 would qualify as critical benchmarks as referred to in Article 20(1), points (a) and (c), or as significant benchmarks as referred to Article 24(2), (5) and (6), or if the person envisages endorsing benchmarks as referred to in Article 33, the application shall be addressed to ESMA.

Added:(b) paragraph 3 is replaced by the following:

Added:‘3. The application referred to in paragraph 1 shall be made within 30 working days of any agreement entered into by a supervised entity to use an index provided by the applicant as a reference in a financial instrument or financial contract or to measure the performance of an investment fund, or within the time limits set out in Article 24a(2) and (3), as applicable.’;

Added:(16a) in Article 36(1), points (a) to (d), are replaced by the following:

Added:‘1. ESMA shall establish and maintain a public register that contains the following information:

Added:(a) the identities, including, when available, the Legal Entity Identifier (LEI), of the administrators authorised or registered pursuant to Article 34 and the competent authorities responsible for the supervision thereof;

Added:(b) the identities, including, when available, the LEI, of administrators that comply with the conditions laid down in Article 30(1), the list of benchmarks, including, when available, their International Securities Identification Numbers (ISINs), referred to in point (c) of Article 30(1) and the third country competent authorities responsible for the supervision thereof;

Added:(c) the identities, including, when available, the LEI, of the administrators that acquired recognition in accordance with Article 32, the list of benchmarks, including, when available, their ISINs, referred to in Article 32(7) and, where applicable, the third country competent authorities responsible for the supervision thereof;

Added:(d) the benchmarks that are endorsed in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 33, the identities of their administrators, and the identities of the endorsing administrators or endorsing supervised entities.;

Added:(17) in Article 36(1):

Added:(a) points (e) to (j) are amended:

Added:‘(e) the benchmarks, including, when available, their ISINs, subject to a statement published by ESMA or a competent authority pursuant to Article 24(2), and the hyperlinks to such statements;

Added:(f) the benchmarks, including, when available, their ISINs, subject to designations by competent authorities notified to ESMA pursuant to Article 24(4), and the hyperlinks to such designations;

Added:(g) the benchmarks, including, when available, their ISINs, subject to designations by ESMA, and the hyperlinks to such designations;

Added:(h) the benchmarks, including, when available, their ISINs, subject to public notices issued by ESMA and competent authorities pursuant to Article 24a(5), and the hyperlinks to such public notices.;

Added:(i) the list of EU Climate Transition Benchmarks and EU Paris-aligned Benchmarks, including, when available, their ISINs, available for use in the Union;

Added:(j) the list of critical benchmarks, including, when available, their ISINs.’;

Added:(b) point (ja) is added:

Added:‘(ja) the list of commodity benchmarks subject to Annex II, including, when available, their ISINs, available for use in the Union.;

Added:(17a) Article 40, paragraph 1 is amended as follows:

Added:‘1. For the purposes of this Regulation, ESMA shall be the competent authority for:

Added:(a) administrators of critical benchmarks as referred to in Article 20(1), points (a) and (c);

Added:(b) administrators of the benchmarks referred to in Article 32;

Added:(c) administrators of the benchmarks that are significant within the Union as referred to in Article 24(2), (5) and (6);

Added:(d) administrators endorsing benchmarks provided in a third country in accordance with Article 33;

Added:(e) administrators of EU Climate Transition Benchmarks and EU Paris Aligned Benchmarks as referred to in Article 3(23a) and (23b).;

Added:(18) in Article 41(1), the following points (k) and (l) are added:

Added:‘(k) designate a benchmark as significant pursuant to Article 24(3);

Added:(l) in case of reasonable grounds to suspect a breach of any of the requirements laid down in Chapter 3A, require that an administrator ceases, for a maximum period of 12 months:

Added:(i) to provide EU Climate Transition Benchmarks or EU Paris-aligned Benchmarks;

Added:(ii) to refer to EU Climate Transition Benchmarks or EU Paris-aligned Benchmarks in the name of the benchmarks they make available for use in the Union, or in the legal or marketing documentation for those benchmarks;

Added:(iii) to refer to compliance with the requirements applicable to the provision of such benchmarks in the name of the benchmarks they make available for use in the Union, or in the legal or marketing documentation for those benchmarks;’;

Added:(19) Article 42 is amended as follows:

Added:(a) in paragraph 1, point (a) is replaced by the following:

Added:‘(a) any infringement of Articles 4 to 16, of Articles 19a, 19b, 19c and 21, of Articles 23 to 29 or of Article 34 where those Articles apply; and’;

Added:(b) paragraph 2 is amended as follows

Added:(i) in point (g), point (i) is replaced by the following:

Added:‘(i) for infringements of Articles 4 to 10, of Article 11(1), points (a), (b), (c) and (e), of Article 11(2) and (3), of Articles 12 to 16, of Article 21, of Articles 23 to 29 and of Article 34, EUR 500 000 or in the Member States whose official currency is not the euro, the corresponding value in the national currency on 31 December 2023; or’;

Added:(ii) in point (h), point (i) is replaced by the following:

Added:‘(i) for infringements of Articles 4 to 10, of Article 11(1), points (a), (b), (c) and (e), of , Article 11(2) and (3), of Articles 12 to 16, of Article 21, of Articles 23 to 29 and of Article 34, either EUR 1 000 000 or, in the Member States whose official currency is not the euro, the corresponding value in the national currency on 31 December 2023, or 10 % of its total annual turnover according to the last available accounts approved by the management body, whichever is the higher; or’;