European Market Infrastructure Regulation

Briefing 10-01-2018

This note seeks to provide an initial analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the European Commission's impact assessment (IA) accompanying its proposal above, submitted on 13 June 2017 and referred to Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON). This proposal amends the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR), which is already in the process of being amended by two proposals currently under consideration in Parliament. The first proposal focused on the recovery and resolution of central counterparties (CCPs). The second proposal proposed targeted amendments aiming to meet EMIR objectives in a more effective and efficient way. The current initiative under consideration focuses on the authorisation of CCPs and on the recognition of third-country CCPs. The impact assessment clearly identifies the problems that require EU action, as well as their drivers and consequences. The objectives of the initiative appear to be coherent with the analysis, and are relevant and measurable. The IA analyses a limited number of alternatives to the status quo in depth: two for each of the objectives, which deal respectively with EU and third-country central counterparties. These options are phrased in rather general terms and are left open to further development. The analysis is based on relevant sources and the Commission's expert knowledge in the field. However, the IA appears to have been prepared in a rather limited time-span and could have benefited from further work.