Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 272/2012 of 7 February 2012 supplementing Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to fees charged by the European Securities and Markets Authority to credit rating agencies Text with EEA relevance

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation lays down rules regarding the fees that the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) shall charge to credit rating agencies for supervision, registration and certification.

Article 2

Recovery of supervisory costs in full

The fees charged to credit rating agencies shall cover:

(a) all direct and indirect costs relating to the supervision of credit rating agencies by ESMA in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009, including costs resulting from the registration and certification of credit rating agencies;

(b) all costs for the reimbursement of direct and indirect costs of competent authorities to which ESMA has delegated tasks in accordance with Article 30 of Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009;

(c) all costs for the reimbursement of direct and indirect costs of competent authorities that have provided assistance to ESMA in accordance with Article 23c(4) and Article 23d(5) of Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009.

Article 3

Applicable turnover

CHAPTER II

FEES

Article 4

Types of fees and general payment modalities

Credit rating agencies established in the Union that apply for registration in accordance with Article 14(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 shall be charged the following types of fees

(a) annual supervisory fees according to Article 5;

(b) registration fees according to Article 6.

Credit rating agencies established in third countries that apply for certification in accordance with Article 5(2) of Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 shall be charged the following types of fees:

(a) flat annual supervisory fees according to Article 7;

(b) certification fees according to Article 8.

Any late payment shall incur the default interest laid down in Article 99 of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council (¹).

Article 5

Annual supervisory fee for registered credit rating agencies

By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, a registered credit rating agency shall be exempted from paying an annual supervisory fee where its total revenues as published in its most recent audited accounts is less than EUR 10 million, or in case it belongs to a group of credit rating agencies, where the group of credit rating agencies has aggregate total revenues of less than EUR 10 million.

The annual supervisory fee for a given financial year shall be calculated as follows:

(a) the basis for the calculation of the annual supervisory fee for a given financial year shall be the estimate of expenditure relating to the supervision of credit rating agencies as included in the ESMA budget for that year, set out and approved in accordance with Article 63 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010;

(b) the relevant amount for the calculation of the annual supervisory fee for a given financial year shall be the estimate of expenditure referred to in point (a) reduced by the annual supervisory fee referred to in Article 7;

(c) a registered credit rating agency as referred to in paragraph 1 shall pay as an annual supervisory fee a part of the relevant amount which corresponds to the ratio of the credit rating agency’s applicable turnover to the total applicable turnover of all registered credit rating agencies required to pay an annual supervisory fee in accordance with paragraph 1.

ESMA shall send debit notes to the credit rating agencies concerned specifying the amount of the annual supervisory fee at least 30 calendar days before the day when annual fees are to be paid.

The annual supervisory fee shall not be reimbursed.

Article 6

Registration fee

For the purposes of calculating the amount of the registration fee, the following criteria shall be taken into consideration:

(a) whether a credit rating agency intends to issue ratings for structured finance instruments;

(b) whether a credit rating agency has a branch in another Member State or in a third country;

(c) whether a credit rating agency intends to endorse ratings.

Where none of the criteria set out in paragraph 2 apply, the registration fees shall be calculated according to the number of employees, as follows:

(a) credit rating agencies with fewer than 15 employees shall pay EUR 2 000 ;

(b) credit rating agencies with 15 to 49 employees shall pay EUR 15 000 ;

(c) credit rating agencies with at least 50 employees shall pay EUR 40 000 .

Credit rating agencies that only meet one of the criteria set out in paragraph 2 shall pay the following registration fees according to the number of their employees, as follows:

(a) credit rating agencies with fewer than 15 employees shall pay EUR 10 000 ;

(b) credit rating agencies with 15 to 49 employees shall pay EUR 40 000 ;

(c) credit rating agencies with at least 50 employees shall pay EUR 100 000 .

Credit rating agencies that meet at least two of the criteria set out in paragraph 2 shall pay the following registration fees according to the number of their employees, as follows:

(a) credit rating agencies with fewer than 15 employees shall pay EUR 30 000 ;

(b) credit rating agencies with 15 to 49 employees shall pay EUR 85 000 ;

(c) credit rating agencies with at least 50 employees shall pay EUR 125 000 .

By way of derogation from Article 5, a registered credit rating agency that is required to pay an annual supervisory fee in accordance with Article 5(1) shall pay in the year of its registration an initial supervisory fee which is calculated as follows:

registered credit rating agency first-year fee = registration fee * coefficient

Credit rating agencies shall pay the supervisory fee of the first year after they have been notified by ESMA that their registration is successful and within 30 calendar days from the date of issuance of ESMA’s debit note.

However, where a credit rating agency is registered during the month of December, that credit rating agency shall not be required to pay an annual supervisory fee for the year in which it was registered.

Article 7

Flat annual supervisory fee for certified credit rating agencies

By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, a certified credit rating agency shall be exempted from paying an annual supervisory fee where its total revenues as published in its most recent audited accounts is less than EUR 10 million, or in case it belongs to a group of credit rating agencies, where the group of credit rating agencies has aggregate total revenues of less than EUR 10 million.

Article 8

Certification fee

The annual supervisory fee shall become payable by the certified credit rating agency in the year following its certification by ESMA in accordance with Article 7.

Article 9

Reimbursement of competent authorities

CHAPTER III

TRANSITIONAL AND FINAL PROVISIONS

Article 10

Fees in 2011

By way of derogation from the first subparagraph a registered credit rating agency shall be exempted from paying a supervisory fee in 2011 where its total revenues as published in its most recent audited accounts is less than EUR 10 million, or in case it belongs to a group of credit rating agencies, where the group of credit rating agencies has aggregate total revenues of less than EUR 10 million.

By way of derogation from the first subparagraph, a certified credit rating agency shall be exempted from paying a supervisory fee in 2011 where it has an applicable turnover of less than EUR 10 million, or in case it belongs to a group of credit rating agencies, where the group of credit rating agencies has an aggregate applicable turnover of less than EUR 10 million.

Article 11

Entry into force

This Regulation shall enter into force on the third day following its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

This Regulation shall be binding in its entirety and directly applicable in all Member States.