Considerations on COM(2021)725 - Amendment of certain Regulations as regards the establishment and functioning of the European single access point

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dossier COM(2021)725 - Amendment of certain Regulations as regards the establishment and functioning of the European single access point.
document COM(2021)725 EN
date December 13, 2023
 
(1) In the Capital Markets Union (CMU) Action Plan 15 , the Commission proposed to improve public access to entities’ financial and non-financial information by building a European Single Access Point (ESAP). The Commission Digital Finance Strategy 16 set out general lines on how Europe can support the digital transformation of finance in the coming years, and in particular to promote a data-driven finance. In the  Strategy for Financing the Transition to a Sustainable Economy 17 , the Commission placed sustainable finance at the heart of the financial system as a key means to achieve the green transition of the EU economy, as part of the Green Deal 18 . 

(2) ESAP is to be established in accordance with Regulation (EU) XXX/XXX of the European Parliament and of the Council [ESAP Regulation] 19 in order to enable an easy access to data for decision makers in the economy and society to make sound decisions that serve the efficient functioning of the market. Rolling out common European data spaces in crucial sectors, including the financial sector, would serve that purpose. The financial world is expected to undergo a digital transformation in the coming years, and the Union should support this, in particular by promoting data-driven finance. Furthermore, putting sustainable finance at the heart of the financial system is a key means to achieving a green transition of the Union economy. For the green transition to succeed through sustainable finance, it is essential that information related to the sustainability of businesses is easily accessible to investors so that they are better informed when making decisions about investments. For those purposes, public access to financial and non-financial information on natural or natural persons required to make information public, or submitting financial and sustainability-related information about their economic activities to a collection body on a voluntary basis (‘entities’) needs to be improved. An efficient means to do so at Union level is to establish a centralised platform, ESAP, giving electronic access to all relevant information.

(3) ESAP should provide the public with an easy centralised access to information about entities and their products in relation to financial services, capital markets and sustainability that entities and authorities are required to publish in accordance with a number of Directives in that field . In any case, any natural or legal person may submit information about its economic activities of relevance to financial services, or to capital markets or concerning sustainability to a collection body with a view to making that information accessible on ESAP in accordance with Article 3 of Regulation (EU) XXX/XXX [ESAP Regulation]. 

(4) A number of Regulations in the field of financial services, capital markets and sustainability should be amended in order to enable the functioning of ESAP. To allow for a sound and efficient functioning of ESAP in a proportionate manner, the scaling-up of the collection and submission of the information would need to be gradual. 

(5) For the functioning of ESAP, collection bodies should be designated to collect from the relevant entities the information in relation to financial services, capital markets and sustainability. In the absence of a collection body already established under Union law, Member States shall designate one of the Officially Appointed Mechanisms established under Directive 2004/109/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 20 to collect and store the information, and notify the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) accordingly. That Officially Appointed Mechanism should act as a collection body as defined in Article 2, point (2) of Regulation (EU) XXXX/XXX [ESAP Regulation] and should carry out the specific tasks set out in that Regulation. Where a European Supervisory Authority or a competent authority is required under Union law to draw-up and publish on its website information on the relevant entities and their financial products in relation to financial services, capital markets and sustainability, that authority should act as a collection body as defined in Article 2, point (2) of Regulation (EU) XXXX/XXX [ESAP Regulation]. That authority should publish information in a data extractable format, include the names and, where available, the legal entity identifier of the entity, and specify the type of information.

(6) To ensure that ESAP provides timely access to information that is relevant for financial services, capital markets and sustainability as set out in Regulation (EU) XXXX/XXX [ESAP Regulation], entities should submit their information to a collection body at the same time as they make that information public.

(7) In order for the information to be digitally usable, entities should submit to the collection bodies the information in a data extractable format or, where required under Union law, in a machine-readable format. Entities should also accompany the information they submit to the collection bodies with the metadata requested by those collection bodies. The Commission should be empowered to adopt implementing technical standards developed by the relevant European Supervisory Authority specifying the metadata for each piece of information, the data structuring of the information and information for which a machine-readable format is required and which machine-readable format is to be used in that case.

(8) Entities should be held responsible for the information they submit to the collection bodies. Ensuring data integrity and credibility of the source would enable to protect entities from undue alteration of their information, and build public trust in ESAP. To that purpose, documents submitted by entities to the collection bodies should be accompanied by a qualified electronic seal included by the reporting entity on the information submitted to the collection bodies where such seal is required, in accordance with specifications set out in Regulation (EU) XXXX/XXX [ESAP Regulation].

(9) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 21 and delivered an opinion on [insert date] 22 .

(10) Since the objective of this Regulation, namely to harmonise the disclosure requirements for the public information that should be accessible through ESAP, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore, by reason its scale or effects, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary in order to achieve that objective.

(11) The following Regulations should therefore be amended accordingly:

–Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on credit rating agencies 23 ;

–Regulation (EU) No 236/2012 on short selling and certain aspects of credit default swaps 24 ;

–Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories 25 ;

–Regulation (EU) No 345/2013 on European venture capital funds 26 ;

–Regulation (EU) No 346/2013 on European social entrepreneurship funds 27 ;

–Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment 28 ;

–Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 on specific requirements regarding statutory audit of public-interest entities 29 ;

–Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 on market abuse (market abuse regulation) 30 ;

–Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 on markets in financial instruments 31 ;

–Regulation (EU) No 909/2014 on improving securities settlement in the European Union and on central securities depositories 32 ;

–Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 on key information documents for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products (PRIIPs) 33 ;

–Regulation (EU) 2015/760 on European long-term investment funds 34 ;

–Regulation (EU) 2015/2365 on transparency of securities financing transactions and of reuse 35 ;

–Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 on indices used as benchmarks in financial instruments and financial contracts or to measure the performance of investment 36 ;

–Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market 37 ;

–Regulation (EU) 2017/1131 on money market funds 38 ;

–Regulation (EU) 2019/1238 on a pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP) 39 ;

–Regulation (EU) 2019/2033 on the prudential requirements of investment 40 ;

–Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 on sustainability‐related disclosures in the financial services sector 41 ;

–Regulation (EU) 2020/852 on the establishment of a framework to facilitate sustainable investment 42 ;

–Regulation (EU) 2021/23 on a framework for the recovery and resolution of central counterparties 43 .