Contents
THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,Having regard to Regulation (EU) 2023/2631 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 November 2023 on European Green Bonds and optional disclosures for bonds marketed as environmentally sustainable and for sustainability-linked bondsnote, and in particular Article 24(2), fourth subparagraph, thereof,Whereas:
(1)To safeguard security and enhance data management and usability, the standard forms, templates, and procedures that external reviewers should use when notifying the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) of material changes in the information provided for registration should be machine-readable and be provided in a durable medium.
(2)To assist ESMA in identifying the documents that an external reviewer has submitted as part of the notification of material changes in the information provided for registration, external reviewers should provide each document submitted with a unique reference number.
(3)For assurance and accountability purposes, an external reviewer that notifies ESMA of material changes in the information provided for registration should complement the notification with a letter signed by a member of its senior management, attesting that the submitted information is accurate and complete to the best of its knowledge.
(4)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 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 Councilnote. Any processing of personal data by external reviewers within application of this Regulation should be carried out in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Councilnote and national requirements on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data.
(5)To enable ESMA to assess the notifications of material changes in the information provided for registration as an external reviewer, while ensuring proper safeguards, personal data regarding external reviewers should be retained by those external reviewers and ESMA for no longer than five years after the external reviewer has ceased to perform its function.
(6)The European Data Protection Supervisor was consulted in accordance with Article 42(1) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and delivered formal comments on 18 November 2025.
(7)This Regulation is based on the draft implementing technical standards submitted to the Commission by ESMA.
(8)ESMA conducted open public consultations on the draft implementing technical standards on which this Regulation is based. It has 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 Councilnote,
HAS ADOPTED THIS REGULATION:
Article 1Procedure for the notification of material changes in the information provided at registration#
1.
2.External reviewers shall accompany the standard form with a letter signed by a member of the external reviewer’s senior management, attesting that the information submitted in the standard form is accurate and complete to the best of that member’s knowledge, at the date of the submission of that standard form.
3.ESMA shall keep personal data relating to notifications of material changes in the information provided for registration as an external reviewer for as long as it is necessary to assess the notification and no longer than five years after the external reviewer has ceased to perform its function. External reviewers shall keep personal data relating to notifications of material changes in the information provided for registration as long as necessary and no longer than five years.
Article 2Entry into force#
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Annex I · Document references
| Article(s) of or Annex(es) to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2179 or Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/544 to which the information relates | Unique reference number of the document | Title of the document | Specific requirement of Regulation (EU) 2023/2631 to which the information relates | Chapter or section or page of the document where the information is provided or reason why the information is not provided |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Annex II · Standard form for the notification of material changes
| Full name of the external reviewer | |||
| Date of registration or recognition with ESMA | |||
| [Please specify the relevant legal reference indicating the Article(s) of, or Annex(es) to, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2179 or Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/544] | [Please use this column to provide an explanation of the change(s)] | ||
| [Please add more rows if needed] | |||
| [Please indicate which Annex(es) to Implementing Regulation (EU) 2025/2179 or to Delegated Regulation (EU) 2026/544 is/are to be resubmitted] | |||
| Annex I(Yes/No) | Annex V(Yes/No) | ||
| Annex II(Yes/No) | Annex VI(Yes/No) | ||
| Annex III(Yes/No) | Annex VII(Yes/No) | ||
| Annex IV(Yes/No) | Annex VIII [recognised external reviewers only] (Yes/No) |
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