European Commission

Subscribe to European Commission via RSS

The “AIFMD II” proposals continue their progress through the EU legislative process with more detail provided, but in many areas specific criteria will not be known until Level 2 measures are developed.

By Nicola Higgs, Jaime O’Connell, Denisa Odendaal, and Dianne Bell

On 9 February 2023, the European Parliament’s Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON) published a report on the amendments it has adopted to the European Commission’s legislative proposal for a directive (the Directive) amending the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive 2011/61/EU (AIFMD) and Directive 2009/65/EC (UCITS Directive). The proposed new legislation arises out of the Commission’s AIFMD review and the identification of specific areas where the AIFMD framework could be improved, as well as the Commission’s view that a number of those issues were equally relevant for the activities of UCITS. As such, both directives will be amended to better align their requirements.

Three delegated acts that supplement the EU Benchmarks Regulation will come into force on 23 December 2020.

By Nicola Higgs, Becky Critchley, Ella McGinn, and Anna Lewis-Martinez

The long-awaited delegated acts (Delegated Acts) required by Regulation (EU) 2019/2089 (the Low Carbon Benchmarks Regulation), which amends the EU Benchmarks Regulation (BMR), have been published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJ). The Delegated Acts will enter into force on 23 December 2020, 20 days after their publication on 3 December 2020. No substantial changes have been made to the official texts since the Commission adopted the Delegated Acts on 17 July 2020.

The Delegated Acts set out (i) sustainability criteria in order for a benchmark to qualify as an EU Climate Transition Benchmark or EU Paris-aligned Benchmark, and (ii) the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure requirements for benchmarks provided in accordance with the BMR.

Many of the wide ranging amendments address the perceived barriers MiFID II introduced in capital markets and are likely to be welcomed by industry.

By Nicola Higgs, Anne Mainwaring, Gabriel Lakeman and Anna Lewis-Martinez

The European Commission (the Commission) has adopted a legislative proposal for a directive amending Directive 2014/65/EU on markets in financial instruments (MiFID II) as part of a capital markets recovery package designed to facilitate the economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed text amending MiFID II was published on 24 July 2020, along with proposals to amend securitisation rules, the Capital Requirements Regulation (575/2013) (CRR), and the Prospectus Regulation (2017/1129).

The delay may complicate the regulatory landscape for sustainable finance as the EU moves toward a standardized classification system. 

By Paul A. Davies, Nicola Higgs, and Michael D. Green

The UK government (government) has delayed a decision on whether it will adopt the EU’s taxonomy of sustainable finance activities (the Taxonomy) as the UK approaches the end of its post-Brexit transition period.

The European Commission’s Technical Expert Group (TEG) on Sustainable Finance, which developed the Taxonomy, published its final report on the document in March 2020. The resulting Taxonomy follows from consultations with more than 200 industry experts and scientists

The European Commission has published its long awaited report that assesses the application and scope of AIFMD.

By Carl Fernandes and Kishore Bhindi

On 10 June 2020, the European Commission published a report assessing the application and scope of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Directive (AIFMD). The report was prepared pursuant to Article 69 of the AIFMD and follows an earlier report prepared by KPMG in January 2019. (For more information on the AIFMD, see Latham & Watkins’ Client Alert European Commission Report on the Operation of the AIFMD.) However, whether the Commission will ultimately suggest any proposals for change remains to be seen.

The three draft delegated regulations set out sustainability criteria and ESG disclosure requirements for benchmarks provided in accordance with the EU Benchmarks Regulation.

By Nicola Higgs and Becky Critchley

On 8 April 2020, the European Commission published the three draft delegated regulations required by Regulation (EU) 2019/2089, commonly referred to as the Low Carbon Benchmarks Regulation, setting out sustainability criteria in order for a benchmark to qualify as an EU Climate Transition Benchmark (EU CTB) or EU Paris-aligned Benchmark (EU PAB) and setting out the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) disclosure requirements for benchmarks provided in accordance with the European Benchmarks Regulation.

10 Key Regulatory Focus Areas for UK/European Wholesale Markets in 2019

By David Berman, Carl Fernandes  Nicola Higgs, Rob Moulton, and Charlotte Collins

This blog post explores developments relating to the EU Benchmarks Regulation and the transition away from LIBOR. This is the third blog of this series, which has been taken from our wider publication: 10 Key Regulatory Focus Areas for UK/European Wholesale Markets in 2019 – Progress Report. Read the full publication here.