Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1706

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THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 on credit rating agencies^note, and in particular Article 19(2) thereof,Whereas:

(1)Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 272/2012^note specifies the type of fees, the calculation, and the payment modalities with regard to the fees charged by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to the credit rating agencies.

(2)In 2018, both the Commission’s Internal Audit Service’s review and the European Court of Auditors’ audit^note concluded that ESMA’s fee funding system is unnecessarily complex. To simplify the collection of fees and reduce risks linked to the incorrect calculation or inefficient allocation of fees, it is necessary to ensure consistency of technical aspects across the different delegated acts on fees charged by ESMA to directly supervised entities.

(3)To fully cover ESMA’s expenditures relating to the supervision of credit rating agencies, the annual supervisory fees should be determined on the basis of the annual estimate of all direct costs necessary for the supervisory tasks performed by ESMA and a reasonable apportionment of ESMA’s fixed and variable overheads.

(4)To ensure consistency among delegated acts on fees paid to ESMA, and to enable ESMA to dispose in due time of audited turnover data for the estimation of fees due by credit rating agencies to ESMA, the reference year of the audited accounts for the determination of the applicable turnover should be 2 years prior to the year for which ESMA charges fees to the credit rating agency.

(5)ESMA should be able to establish its annual budget in time, based on certified turnover data. To facilitate the calculation of the fees by ESMA, credit rating agencies should submit audited accounts with breakdowns of core and ancillary services. A deadline should be set by which credit rating agencies are to submit to ESMA their audited accounts.

(6)The applicable turnover of credit rating agencies is calculated in euros. It is therefore necessary to specify a mechanism for the conversion into euros of revenues generated in other currencies.

(7)To ensure consistency among delegated acts on fees to be paid to ESMA, ESMA should calculate the penalty in case of late payments in line with the provisions on default interest set out in Article 99 of the of Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2018/1046 of the European Parliament and of the Council^note.

(8)In line with Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2019/715^note, fees charged to credit rating agencies should be set at a level that ensures that the full cost of services provided by ESMA is covered and a deficit is avoided, but at the same time avoids the accumulation of a significant surplus. Where a significant positive or negative budget result becomes recurrent, the level of the fees should be revised.

(9)To further simplify the fee management, and to ensure ESMA has the necessary funds to carry out its planned supervisory activities, annual supervisory fees should be paid in a single instalment during the first 3 months of the calendar year for which such fees are due. Annual supervisory fees should not be reimbursed.

(10)The registration fee is meant to cover the costs incurred by ESMA to examine whether the credit rating agency concerned fulfils all conditions. When an applicant credit rating agency withdraws its application, ESMA will already have made costs and thus should be under no obligation to refund fees related to such.

(11)To avoid an excessive supervisory fee in the year of its registration, a registered credit rating agency should pay an initial supervisory fee the amount of which should be proportional to the period of time in that first year during which the credit rating agency has been registered.

(12)The administrative cost linked to the first year supervisory fee for a credit rating agency registered in December is not proportionate to that fee. Therefore, a credit rating agency that is registered in December should be exempted from the requirement to pay an annual supervisory fee for the year in which that credit rating agency was registered.

(13)To simplify the payment of certification fees, 50 % of the fee should be refunded in case a credit rating agency withdraws its application before ESMA has notified the completeness of the application. If a credit rating agency withdraws its application after ESMA has notified the credit rating agency that the application is complete the certification fee should not be refunded. Certified credit rating agencies should not pay an annual supervisory fee according to Article 7(1) of Delegated Regulation (EU) No 272/2012 in the year during which its certification takes effect.

(14)In order to avoid legal uncertainty for the ongoing fee collection process, this Regulation should apply from 1 January 2025.

(15)Delegated Regulation (EU) No 272/2012 should therefore be amended accordingly,

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Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2024/1706

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