AIMA

The Alternative Investment Management Association

Alternative Investment Management Association

EMIR

On 27 July 2012, Regulation (EU) No. 648/2012 on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories (EMIR Level 1) was published in the Official Journal. It entered into force on 16 August 2012.

EMIR Level 1 seeks to fulfil the EU's G20 mandate for the regulation of derivatives contracts and provides for:

mandatory clearing of certain 'eligible' OTC derivative contracts entered into between any financial counterparty and certain non-financial counterparties;
obligatory risk mitigation techniques for un-cleared OTC derivative contracts;
compulsory reporting of the details of all derivative contracts to authorised trade repositories; and
registration, prudential requirements and supervision of CCPs and trade repositories.

Following two public consultations, ESMA published its final EMIR Level 2 draft technical standards and guidance on delegated acts on 27 September 2012. The European Commission adopted its final implementing and regulatory technical standards on 19 December 2012.

Implementing technical standards were published in the Official Journal immediately following their adoption by the European Commission on 21 December 2012 and entered into force twenty days later on 10 January 2013. The related regulatory technical standards were published in the official journal on 23 February 2013 and entered into force on 15 March 2013.

On 20 December 2012, ESMA published its first Level 3 consultation paper, 'Guidelines for establishing consistent, efficient and effective assessments of interoperability arrangements', to help clarify the obligations for national regulators as to how to assess existing or new interoperability arrangements between CCPs. AIMA submitted a response on 31 January 2013.