(fra kommisjonsforordningen)

(1) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/1645 aims to ensure that ESMA receives uniform and consistent information from third-country benchmark administrators that apply for recognition in the Union. Regulation (EU) 2019/2175 of the European Parliament and of the Council deleted from Article 32 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 the reference to the Member State of reference, and transferred the competence of recognising and supervising third-country benchmark administrators from national competent authorities to the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA). To take into account those changes, it is necessary to amend Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/1645. 

(2) Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/1646 aims to ensure that competent authorities receive uniform and consistent information from benchmark administrators located in the Union that apply for authorisation or registration. To ensure that EU and non-EU benchmark administrators are treated on an equal footing and can be supervised on the same basis, it is necessary to align Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/1646 with any amendment to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2018/1645. 

(3) Experience gained in the application of Delegated Regulations (EU) 2018/1645 and (EU) 2018/1646 has shown that the information on the number of employees of an applicant needs to be further specified. To avoid divergent reporting among applicants and to enable ESMA and national competent authorities to understand the organisational structure of an applicant, it is necessary to further specify that applicants should report the information on all employees, both permanently and temporarily employed, that are directly or indirectly involved in the provision of a benchmark, and that applicants should provide a complete overview of their structure, including an overview of their different departments. 

(4) Article 4, paragraph 7 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 requires that benchmark administrators ensure that their employees and any other natural persons whose services are placed at their disposal or under their control and who are directly involved in the provision of a benchmark have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience for the duties assigned to them and are subject to effective management and supervision. To ensure that the applicant benchmark administrator has established, at the time of authorisation or registration, all the necessary arrangements to meet the requirements laid down in Article 4, paragraph 7 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 and to assess the skills, knowledge and experience of the relevant employees of the administrator, it is appropriate to require the submission of the curriculum vitae for the members of the management body, the employees responsible for the oversight function and for the functions within the control framework and the internal function. The curriculum vitae should have regard to up-to-date information on the employment history and functions occupied of the relevant employees in order to allow an assessment of the overall composition and diversity of the management body and their collective skills, professional qualifications and experience, as relevant to the activities of the benchmark administrator and the risks to which it is exposed.

(5) The objective of the Regulation (EU) 2016/1011 is to ensure the accuracy, robustness, integrity and independence of the benchmarks and of the benchmark determination process. To that effect, Article 4 that Regulation sets outs requirements to ensure the integrity and reliability of persons involved in the administration of a benchmark. This is particularly important where those persons are part of bodies or carry out functions that have specific decision making or oversight and supervisory powers and responsibilities, such as the management body and the oversight function. Accordingly, to ensure that the applicant benchmark administrator has established, at the time of authorisation or registration, all the necessary arrangements to meet the requirements to safeguard the integrity of the management body and the oversight function, it is therefore necessary to provide a self-declaration for each member of the management body and of the oversight function of the applicant to ensure that they are suitable and operate with integrity, guarantee an effective management and safeguard confidence in the integrity and independence of the benchmarks activity. 

(6) The self-declaration should inform of the absence of convictions of any criminal offence and any proceedings of a disciplinary nature in connection with the provision of financial services, misconduct or fraud or any offence in the field of money laundering or terrorist financing or of any other offence that would concern their ability to oversee the provision of a benchmark with integrity. In this respect, persons that have been sanctioned in particular for manipulation or attempted manipulation under Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council, should not become members of the management body or the oversight function. 

(7) To enable ESMA and national competent authorities to better assess the risk of conflicts of interest and an applicant’s organisational safeguards, applicants should provide ESMA, and where relevant, national competent authorities, with information on how the provision of benchmarks is operationally separated from other parts of their business. Furthermore, to assess whether applicants comply with the record keeping requirements laid down in Article 8 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1011, applicants should provide ESMA, and where relevant, national competent authorities with information on the applicant’s relevant record keeping processes. Finally, to enable ESMA and, where relevant, national competent authorities, to assess whether stakeholders are able to notify complaints to the applicant concerned and whether the applicant is able to evaluate such complaints, applicants should provide ESMA, and where relevant, national competent authorities, with information on such complaint handling mechanism. 

(8) To ensure that ESMA is able to process all applications for recognition it receives, such applications should be made either in one of the official languages of the Member State where the legal representative is established, or in one of the languages customary in the sphere of international finance. 

(9) This Regulation respects the fundamental rights and observes the principles recognised by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and notably the right to protection of personal data. The processing of personal data for the purposes of this Regulation should be carried out in accordance with Union law on the protection of personal data. In that regard, any processing of personal data performed by national competent authorities in application of this Regulation should be carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council and national requirements on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data. Any processing of personal data performed by ESMA in application of this Regulation should be carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council. 

(10) To enable national competent authorities and ESMA to assess the initial application and ensure ongoing supervision, while ensuring appropriate safeguards, personal data relating to the good repute of the applicant benchmark administrator’s management body and of employees responsible for the oversight function, or of members performing the oversight function where a separate committee carries out the oversight function, should be kept by national competent authorities and ESMA for no longer than five years after that person has ceased to perform its function. 

(11) 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 and delivered an opinion on 11 June 2025. 

(12) Delegated Regulations (EU) 2018/1645 and (EU) 2018/1646 should therefore be amended accordingly. 

(13) The provisions in this Regulation are closely linked, since they deal with the information to be provided in an application for recognition as a benchmark administrator, or in an application for authorisation or registration as a benchmark administrator. To ensure coherence between those provisions that should enter into force at the same time, and to facilitate a comprehensive view of the criteria for stakeholders, and in particular for ESMA and competent authorities, it is necessary to include these provisions in a single Delegated Regulation. 

(14) This Regulation is based on draft regulatory technical standards submitted to the Commission by ESMA. (15) ESMA 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 advice of the Securities and Markets Stakeholder Group established in accordance with Article 37 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council,