(1)

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2205 (2), Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/592 (3) and Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1178 (4) specify, among others, the effective dates of the clearing obligation for contracts pertaining to the classes of OTC derivatives set out in the Annexes to those Regulations.

(2)

Those Regulations laid down deferred dates of application of the clearing obligation for OTC derivative contracts concluded between counterparties which are part of the same group and where one counterparty is established in a third country and the other counterparty is established in the Union. As stated in the relevant recitals of those Regulations, those deferred dates were necessary to ensure that such OTC derivate contracts were not subject to the clearing obligation before the adoption of an implementing act pursuant to Article 13(2) of Regulation (EU) No 648/2012.

(3)

To date, no implementing act pursuant to Article 13(2) of Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 has been adopted in relation to the clearing obligation. Therefore, the application of the clearing obligation to OTC derivative contracts should be further deferred for a defined period of time or until the adoption of those implementing acts.

(4)

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2205, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/592 and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1178 should therefore be amended accordingly.

(5)

The initial deferred dates of application were, in Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/2205, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/592 and Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/1178, aligned with the date of application of the clearing obligation for counterparties in Category 4. Because the deferred dates of application should be further extended, that extension should also apply to Category 4 entities.

(6)

Taking into consideration the initial deferred dates of application, and to ensure a consistent application of the clearing obligation for intragroup transactions with the date of application of this Regulation, this amending act should enter into force on the day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.

(7)

This Regulation is based on the draft regulatory technical standards submitted by the European Securities and Markets Authority to the Commission.

(8)

The European Securities and Markets Authority has conducted open public consultations on the draft regulatory technical standards on which this Regulation is based, analysed the potential related costs and benefits and requested the opinion of the Security and Markets Stakeholder Group established by Article 37 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council (5),

(1)

The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (the ‘Convention’) entered into force on 24 February 2004 and was concluded by the Union by means of Council Decision 2006/730/EC (1).

(2)

Regulation (EU) No 649/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2) implements the Convention within the Union.

(3)

In accordance with Article 7 of the Convention, the Conference of the Parties may list chemicals in Annex III to the Convention following the Chemical Review Committee's recommendation.

(4)

In order to ensure that importing Parties benefit from the protection offered by the Convention and since all relevant criteria under the Convention are met, it is necessary and appropriate to support the Chemical Review Committee's recommendation as regards the listing in Annex III to the Convention of: acetochlor; carbosulfan; chrysotile asbestos; fenthion (ultra low volume (ULV) formulations at or above 640 g active ingredient/L); hexabromocyclododecane; phorate; and liquid formulations (emulsifiable concentrate and soluble concentrate) containing paraquat dichloride at or above 276 g/L, corresponding to paraquat ion at or above 200 g/L. Moreover, those chemicals are already banned or severely restricted in the Union and are therefore subject to export requirements pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 649/2012 that go beyond what is required under the Convention.

(5)

At its ninth meeting, the Conference of the Parties is expected to decide whether to list those chemicals in Annex III to the Convention.

(6)

It is appropriate to establish the position to be taken on the Union's behalf at the ninth meeting of the Conference of the Parties concerning the listing of certain chemicals in Annex III to the Convention as that listing will be binding on the Union,

(1)

On 19 April 2013, the European Central Bank (ECB) adopted Decision ECB/2013/10 (1), which established a number of technical standards to cover both current and future series of euro banknotes and further clarified some of the rules and procedures as regards euro banknotes.

(2)

The ECB has decided to make modifications to the second series of euro banknotes, known as the Europa series. The height of the euro 100 and euro 200 denomination banknotes is to be reduced.

(3)

On 4 May 2016, the Governing Council decided to exclude the euro 500 denomination banknotes from the Europa series.

(4)

Furthermore, the accession of Croatia in 2013 requires the initials of the ECB in Croatian to be added to the euro 50, 100 and 200 denominations of the second series of euro banknotes. They are to be added to the element of the design that includes the European Union's official language variants.

(5)

For the sake of consistency, the threshold for the requirement to provide documentation on the origin of the euro banknotes and identification of the customer or, where applicable, of the beneficial owner as defined in Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council (2), should be increased to EUR 10 000. This increase will harmonise it with the threshold for persons trading in goods to the extent that payments are made or received in cash in an amount of EUR 10 000 or more under Directive (EU) 2015/849.

(6)

There is a need to clarify that the exchange of damaged banknotes may take place by exchanging banknotes of the same value in any denomination or by transferring or crediting the value to an applicant's account. It should be clarified that the fee for the exchange of genuine banknotes damaged by anti-theft devices also applies when the applicant requests that the national central bank (NCB) transfers or credits the value of the respective banknotes to an account.

(7)

Therefore, Decision ECB/2013/10 should be amended accordingly,

1.

Article 1 is amended as follows:

2.

in Article 3, paragraph 2(h) is replaced by the following:

(*1)  Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 May 2015 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing, amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council, and repealing Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and Commission Directive 2006/70/EC (OJ L 141, 5.6.2015, p. 73).’;"

3.

in Article 3, a new paragraph 4 is added:

(*2)  Regulation (EU) No 260/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 March 2012 establishing technical and business requirements for credit transfers and direct debits in euro and amending Regulation (EC) No 924/2009 (OJ L 94, 30.3.2012, p. 22).’;"

4.

in Article 4, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

(1)

To assist the Governing Council in monitoring compliance with the prohibition on monetary financing under Article 123 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, Decision ECB/2014/8 (1) sets out the market rates that operate as ceilings for the remuneration of deposits held by governments and public authorities with their respective national central bank.

(2)

To preserve the integrity of the single monetary policy, the relevant market rates need to be further specified and updated.

(3)

Therefore, Decision ECB/2014/8 should be amended accordingly,

Article 1 is amended as follows:

(1)

Guideline ECB/2014/9 (1) has been substantially amended twice. Since further amendments are to be made, that Guideline should be recast in the interest of clarity.

(2)

The successful implementation of the single monetary policy requires that the European Central Bank (ECB) specifies the general principles to be followed by the NCBs when carrying out operations in assets and liabilities on their own initiative; such operations should not interfere with the single monetary policy.

(3)

Limitations on the remuneration of government deposits held with NCBs as fiscal agents pursuant to Article 21.2 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank must be specified to preserve the integrity of the single monetary policy, and to provide incentives for government deposits to be placed in the market, so as to facilitate the Eurosystem's liquidity management and monetary policy implementation. In addition, the introduction of a ceiling on such remuneration based on money market rates facilitates the monitoring of the NCBs' compliance with the prohibition on monetary financing carried out by the ECB in accordance with Article 271(d) of the Treaty.

(4)

Considering the specific institutional circumstances, the Governing Council deems that the remuneration of government deposits related to an adjustment programme does not interfere with the single monetary policy to a comparable extent as the remuneration of other government deposits.

(5)

While the remuneration of deposits other than government deposits held with NCBs may not be subject to the prohibition of monetary financing, it must also be specified to preserve the integrity of the single monetary policy. Given the different institutional requirements the specific remuneration ceilings may differ, in particular with respect to deposits of internal sources, which may be seen as either similar to retail accounts or serving an administrative purpose.

(6)

Transactions conducted by the NCBs on behalf of third parties which are not recorded in the NCBs' balance sheets and do not affect central bank liquidity conditions are not subject to this Guideline. However, with respect to related organisational issues these transactions should be subject to arrangements comparable to those specified in this Guideline.

(a)

transactions that are executed by NCBs to implement the single monetary policy as decided by the Governing Council;

(b)

transactions regulated by guidelines established on the basis of Article 31.3 of the Statute of the European System of Central Banks and of the European Central Bank;

(c)

transactions executed and deposits taken in the context of the Eurosystem's reserve management services as set out in Guideline (EU) 2018/797 of the European Central Bank (ECB/2018/14) (2);

(d)

operations related to the provision of emergency liquidity assistance as defined in the Agreement on emergency liquidity assistance.

(1)

‘NCB’ means a national central bank of a Member State whose currency is the euro;

(2)

‘deposit facility rate’ means the interest rate applied to the Eurosystem deposit facility;

(3)

‘deposit’ means a credit balance in euro or in another currency resulting from funds held in an account with an NCB or from temporary situations deriving from other services provided by an NCB, giving rise to a liability recorded on that NCB's balance sheet, and which that NCB is required to repay under the applicable contractual or regulatory conditions, including overnight and fixed term deposits;

(4)

‘government’ means all public entities of a Member State or any public entities of the Union mentioned in Article 123 of the Treaty, as interpreted in the light of Council Regulation (EC) No 3603/93 (3), except for publicly owned credit institutions which, in the context of the supply of reserves by NCBs, are given the same treatment by NCBs and the ECB as private credit institutions;

(5)

‘government deposits’ means non-monetary policy deposits accepted by NCBs from any government;

(6)

‘government deposits related to an adjustment programme’ means deposits of:

(7)

‘gross domestic product’ (GDP) means the value of an economy's total output of goods and services, less intermediate consumption, plus net taxes on products and imports in a specified period;

(8)

‘non-monetary policy deposits’ means any deposits accepted by NCBs from governments and other external sources that are recorded in balance sheet items other than liability item L2 (‘Liabilities to euro area credit institutions related to monetary policy operations denominated in euro’) as defined in the context of the Eurosystem harmonised balance sheet. Non-monetary policy deposits from other external sources do not include IMF No 1 and No 2 accounts, as decided by the Governing Council, or deposits from internal sources, i.e. deposits from current or former staff, branches or subsidiaries of the relevant NCB, overseas monetary authorities linked to the relevant NCB and located in countries and territories specified in Article 198 of the Treaty;

(9)

‘secured market rate’ means (a) with regard to fixed-term deposits denominated in euro, the STOXX EUR GC Pooling term index with a comparable maturity, or its equivalent if it is discontinued or no longer considered as a benchmark; and (b) with regard to fixed-term deposits denominated in currencies other than the euro, a comparable rate;

(10)

‘unsecured overnight market rate’ means (a) with regard to overnight deposits denominated in euro, the euro overnight index average rate (EONIA), or, following the discontinuation of EONIA, the euro short-term rate (€STR); and (b) with regard to overnight deposits denominated in currencies other than the euro, a comparable rate;

(11)

‘outright transaction’ means a purchase, sale or redemption of a security that is recorded in a balance sheet item other than asset item A7.1 (‘Securities held for monetary policy purposes’) as defined in the context of the Eurosystem harmonised balance sheet;

(12)

‘securities’ mean the following types of securities: (a) debt securities; (b) listed shares; and (c) investment fund shares or units;

(13)

‘securities financing transaction’ means a transaction that meets the definition in Article 3(11) of Regulation (EU) 2015/2365 of the European Parliament and of the Council (4) and which involves securities that are recorded in a balance sheet item other than asset item A7.1 (‘Securities held for monetary policy purposes’) as defined in the context of the Eurosystem harmonised balance sheet, and consists of either:

(14)

‘bilateral liquidity arrangement’ means an agreement which an NCB enters into with a non-euro area central bank or a monetary authority with the purpose of conducting transactions to exchange euro cash with euro non-cash collateral.

(a)

outright transactions;

(b)

securities financing transactions;

(c)

average outstanding amounts related to non-monetary policy deposits which were carried out or observed during the previous calendar quarter.