Regulation (EU) 2023/2869 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2023 amending certain Regulations as regards the establishment and functioning of the European single access point (Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 114 thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee (1),

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure (2),

Whereas:

(1) Easy and structured access to data, including to information provided on a voluntary basis, is important to enable decision makers in the economy and society to make sound decisions that serve the efficient functioning of the market. Such access is also necessary in order to increase opportunities for the growth and visibility of, and innovation by, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Rolling out common European data spaces in crucial sectors, including the financial sector, serves the purpose of providing easy access to reliable sources of information in those sectors. The financial sector is itself expected to undergo a digital transformation in the coming years and the Union should support that transformation, in particular by promoting data-driven finance. Furthermore, putting sustainable finance at the heart of the financial system is a key means of achieving the green transition of the Union economy. For that green transition to succeed, it is essential that information related to the sustainability and social governance 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, non-financial and environmental-, social- and governance-related information about natural or legal persons (‘entities’) that are themselves required to make such information public, or that publicly disclose such information to a collection body on a voluntary basis, needs to be improved. An efficient means of doing so at Union level is to establish a centralised platform giving electronic access to all relevant information.

(2) In its communication of 24 September 2020 entitled ‘A Capital Markets Union for people and businesses - new action plan’, the Commission proposed to improve public access to entities’ financial and non-financial information by building a European single access point (ESAP). The communication of the Commission of 24 September 2020 entitled ‘A digital finance strategy for the EU’ set out in general terms how the Union could promote the digital transformation of finance in the coming years, in particular how to promote data-driven finance. Subsequently, in its communication of 6 July 2021 entitled ‘Strategy for Financing the Transition to a Sustainable Economy’, the Commission placed sustainable finance at the heart of the financial system, as a key means of achieving the green transition of the Union economy, as part of the European Green Deal set out in the Commission’s communication of 11 December 2019.

(3) ESAP is established in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2023/2859 of the European Parliament and of the Council (3) in order to provide the public with easy centralised access to information about entities and their products that is of relevance to financial services, capital markets and sustainability, which authorities and entities are required to publish pursuant to Union legislative acts in those fields. Such publication should be carried out in accordance with a ‘file once’ principle and without entailing any additional disclosure requirements beyond those specified by law. In addition, any entity governed by the law of a Member State should be able to submit to a collection body, on a voluntary basis, information about its economic activities that is of relevance to financial services or capital markets, or that concerns sustainability, with a view to making that information accessible on ESAP in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2023/2859.

(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 achieve the sound and efficient functioning of ESAP in a proportionate manner, the scaling-up of the collection and submission of information needs to be gradual. It is intended that the requirement to make information available to ESAP constitutes an integral part of the sectoral Union legislative acts listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2023/2859 and of any further Union legislative act which provides for centralised access to information on ESAP. The information to be made accessible on ESAP and the collection bodies designated for the collection of that information could be revisited as part of the review of those sectoral Union legislative acts, to ensure that ESAP provides market participants with easy centralised access to the information they need and that ESAP becomes the point of reference.

(5) ESAP should be established with an ambitious timeframe, while taking intermediate steps to ensure its operational soundness and efficiency. In particular, sufficient time should be allocated for the technical implementation of ESAP and for the collection of information to be put in place in Member States. The development of ESAP should have an initial phase of 12 months, to grant sufficient time to Member States and the European Supervisory Authority (European Securities and Markets Authority) (ESMA) established by Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) to establish the IT infrastructure and test it on the basis of the collection of a limited number of information flows. Subsequently, the development of ESAP should gradually incorporate, over time, an additional number of information flows and functionalities at a pace that allows for ESAP’s sound and efficient development. The functioning of ESAP should be assessed on a regular basis over the course of its implementation and operation to allow for any adjustments to meet the needs of its users and to ensure its technical efficiency.

(6) For the purposes of the functioning of ESAP, collection bodies should be designated to collect information from entities that is of relevance to financial services, capital markets and sustainability. In the absence of a collection body already established under Union law, Member States should retain flexibility in organising the collection of information in their jurisdiction, should designate at least one collection body, as defined in Regulation (EU) 2023/2859, to collect and store information, and should notify ESMA accordingly. For the purpose of making information accessible on ESAP in a cost-efficient manner, the collection, transmission and storage of information should be based, to the extent possible, on existing collection, transmission and storage procedures and infrastructure in place at the national level as well as those in place for the transmission of information from the collection bodies to ESMA.

(7) To ensure that ESAP provides timely access to information that is of relevance to financial services, capital markets and sustainability as set out in Regulation (EU) 2023/2859, entities should submit their information to a collection body at the same time as they make that information public. In turn, the collection bodies should make the information available to ESAP in an automated manner. The collection bodies should draw, to the extent possible, upon existing information collection procedures and infrastructure, at Union and national level, for the transmission of information to ESMA without undue delay.

(8) In order for the information on ESAP to be digitally usable, entities should submit to the collection bodies the information in a data extractable format or, where required by Union law, in a machine-readable format. The information submitted by entities to the collection bodies should be accompanied by the metadata requested by those collection bodies. The Commission should be empowered to adopt implementing technical standards developed by the European Supervisory Authority (European Banking Authority) (EBA) established by Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5), by the European Supervisory Authority (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority) (EIOPA) established by Regulation (EU) No 1094/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6), or by ESMA (known collectively as ‘European Supervisory Authorities’ or ‘ESAs’), specifying the metadata for each piece of information, how the data in the information is to be structured, the information for which a machine-readable format is required and which machine-readable format is to be used in such cases. As regards implementing technical standards concerning sustainability information, the ESAs, acting through the Joint Committee, should liaise with EFRAG on the development of those draft standards. The introduction of a machine-readable format should be justified by an analysis that takes into account the costs and benefits for entities and for users of the information and also for any other concerned parties, in particular the collection bodies, competent authorities and ESAs.

(9) The collection bodies should not be responsible for verifying the accuracy of the content of the information submitted by entities, unless mandated to do so in accordance with the applicable Union legislative acts listed in the Annex to Regulation (EU) 2023/2859. Entities that submit information on a mandatory basis should be responsible for ensuring the accuracy of the information submitted pursuant to their legal obligations under the applicable Union legislative acts listed in that Annex or under national law.

(10) The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council (7) and delivered formal comments on 19 January 2022.

(11) The European Central Bank provided its opinion on 7 June 2022 (8).

(12) 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 but can rather, by reason of its scale and 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.

HAVE ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:

Article 1

Amendments to Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009

Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 is amended as follows:

(1) In Article 11a, paragraph 2 is replaced by the following: ‘2.   ESMA shall publish the individual credit ratings submitted to it pursuant to paragraph 1 on a website (‘European rating platform’). The central repository referred to in Article 11(2) shall be incorporated in the European rating platform. The European single access point (ESAP) established under Regulation (EU) 2023/2859 of the European Parliament and of the Council(1) may fulfil the functions of the European rating platform. (1)  Regulation (EU) 2023/2859 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 December 2023 establishing a European single access point providing centralised access to publicly available information of relevance to financial services, capital markets and sustainability (OJ L, 2023/2859, 20.12.2023, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/reg/2023/2859/oj).’;"

Article 2

Amendment to Regulation (EU) No 236/2012

In Regulation (EU) No 236/2012, the following article is inserted:

‘Article 11a

Accessibility of information on the European single access point

That information shall comply with the following requirements:

(a) be submitted in a data extractable format as defined in Article 2, point (3), of Regulation (EU) 2023/2859 or, where required by Union law, in a machine-readable format, as defined in Article 2, point (4), of that Regulation;

(a) any other metadata to accompany the information;

(b) the structuring of data in the information;

(c) for which information a machine-readable format is required and, in such cases, which machine-readable format is to be used.

For the purposes of point (c), ESMA shall assess the advantages and disadvantages of different machine-readable formats and conduct appropriate field tests.

ESMA shall submit those draft implementing technical standards to the Commission.

Power is conferred on the Commission to adopt the implementing technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph in accordance with Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.

Article 3

Amendment to Regulation (EU) No 345/2013

In Regulation (EU) No 345/2013, the following article is inserted:

‘Article 17a

Accessibility of information on the European single access point

From 10 January 2028, the information referred to in Article 17(1) of this Regulation shall be made accessible on the European single access point (ESAP) established under Regulation (EU) 2023/2859 of the European Parliament and of the Council(*3). For that purpose, the collection body as defined in Article 2, point (2), of that Regulation shall be ESMA. ESMA shall draw that information from the information notified by the competent authority of the home Member State in accordance with Article 16(1) of this Regulation for the purpose of the establishment of the central database referred to in Article 17(1) of this Regulation.

That information shall comply with the following requirements:

(a) be submitted in a data extractable format as defined in Article 2, point (3), of Regulation (EU) 2023/2859;

Article 4

Amendment to Regulation (EU) No 346/2013

In Regulation (EU) No 346/2013, the following article is inserted:

‘Article 18a

Accessibility of information on the European single access point

From 10 January 2028, the information referred to in Article 18(1) of this Regulation shall be made accessible on the European single access point (ESAP) established under Regulation (EU) 2023/2859 of the European Parliament and of the Council(*4). For that purpose, the collection body as defined in Article 2, point (2), of that Regulation shall be ESMA. ESMA shall draw that information from the information notified by the competent authority of the home Member State in accordance with Article 17(1) of this Regulation for the purpose of the establishment of the central database referred to in Article 18(1) of this Regulation.

That information shall comply with the following requirements:

(a) be submitted in a data extractable format as defined in Article 2, point (3), of Regulation (EU) 2023/2859;

Article 5

Amendment to Regulation (EU) No 575/2013

In Regulation (EU) No 575/2013, the following article is inserted:

‘Article 434b

Accessibility of information on the European single access point

That information shall comply with the following requirements:

(a) be submitted in a data extractable format as defined in Article 2, point (3), of Regulation (EU) 2023/2859 or, where required by Union law, in a machine-readable format, as defined in Article 2, point (4), of that Regulation;

(a) any other metadata to accompany the information;

(b) the structuring of data in the information;

(c) for which information a machine-readable format is required and, in such cases, which machine-readable format is to be used.

For the purposes of point (c), EBA shall assess the advantages and disadvantages of different machine-readable formats and conduct appropriate field tests.

EBA shall submit those draft implementing technical standards to the Commission.

Power is conferred on the Commission to adopt the implementing technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph in accordance with Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010.