Belgium Simpler Rules Tender

The Commission welcomes the political agreement reached by the European Parliament and EU Member States on the targeted reform of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation EMIR.This regulation was adopted in 2012 following the financial crisis to better manage and monitor the risks arising from derivatives markets for financial stability. Todays reform will provide simpler and more proportionate rules for over-the-counter derivatives helping to reduce costs and regulatory burdens for market participants without compromising financial stability. First presented by the Commission in 2017 this initiative builds on the results of the Commissions Call for Evidence a public consultation looking at the cumulative effect of the new financial sector rules put in place since the crisis and is a prime example of better regulation in practice the revised rules improve the efficiency of the market while maintaining prudential objectives.Valdis Dombrovskis Vice-President responsible for Financial Stability Financial Services and Capital Markets Union said The European Market Infrastructure Regulation is one of the key EUs financial reforms. Todays political agreement is a tangible deliverable of the Commissions Call for Evidence - we will reduce the regulatory burden for the real economy to a minimum while ensuring that EMIR keeps achieving its objective of reducing systemic risk in the derivatives market.The reform of the European Market Infrastructure Regulation will bring more proportionate rules for corporates. It exempts the smallest financial counterparties from the clearing obligation while ensuring that the overwhelming majority of trades in the relevant classes of derivatives continues to be cleared in central counterparties. The reporting requirements which ensure that supervisors dispose of full information on derivatives markets are streamlined and will be more proportionate while the quality of the reported data is ensured. Some more time is granted to developing solutions for pension funds before they have to start clearing derivatives in central counterparties. The progress towards these clearing solutions will be carefully monitored.Next StepsThis political agreement will be followed by further technical work before the European Parliament and the Council can formally adopt the final texts.