On November 14, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) published a final report (Final Report) under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). The Final Report sets out draft regulatory technical standards (RTS), which amend the clearing obligations for financial counterparties with a limited volume of OTC derivatives activity (Category 3 Counterparties). Under the RTS, ESMA has proposed to postpone the phase-in implementation for clearing for Category 3 Counterparties by two years. If adopted, the new compliance dates for interest rates and credit derivatives clearing for such counterparties would be June 21, 2019. 

The Final Report has been submitted to the European Commission and once adopted will go into effect 20 days following publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

The Final Report can be found here and ESMA’s accompanying press release can be found here.