European delegated acts in draft form

 

Other delegated acts in the form of Regulatory Technical Standards - RTS

In order to ensure uniform harmonisation in the areas expressly provided for in the legislative acts, the European Commission has the power to adopt, by means of delegated acts, regulatory technical standards (RTSs) developed and transmitted by the European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs). Their content is technical and is delimited by the legislative acts under which they are drafted.

Thus, based on Regulation 2019/2088 (SFDR) and Regulation 2020/852 (Taxonomy Regulation), RTSs are developed completing the technical details for the implementation of legislation/

For some of the RTS drafts for the application of the SFDR and the Taxonomy Regulation, the final reports prepared by the European supervisory authorities have been published, with a single delegated act to be prepared by the European Commission, including all 13 RTS when their texts are finalised. Under Regulation 2019/2088, there will be six RTS and under Regulation 2020/852 there will be seven RTS.

Although an estimated implementation date of 1 July 2022 has been indicated (the previous date was 1 January 2022), the European supervisory authorities have indicated that this date is also likely to be postponed.

 

֍   Final Report on draft Regulatory Technical Standards with regard to the content, methodologies and presentation of disclosures pursuant to Article 2a(3), Article 4(6) and (7), Article 8(3), Article 9(5), Article 10(2) and Article 11(4) of Regulation (EU) 2019/2088

As the RTS is issued under the SFDR, it will apply to the same entities.

The delegated act provides for:

  • the need to identify the environmental objectives to which the financial product contributes, which will be included in the environmental disclosure or sustainable investment objectives under the rules for pre-contractual and periodic disclosures;
  • information on how and to what extent the investments underlying the financial product/economic activities qualify as sustainable

The draft includes supplementations to the general pre-contractual disclosure required under Art. 8, Art.9 and Art.11 of the SFDR which should identify the environmental objective(s) to which the financial product contributes. The financial product disclosures calculate the degree of alignment of investments to the taxonomy by calculating the weighted average of taxonomy-aligned investments divided by all investments, which will be rendered graphically.

In addition, further revisions are proposed on the transparency of pre-contractual and periodic information.

 

֍   Final Report on draft Regulatory Technical Standards with regard to the content and presentation of disclosures pursuant to Article 8(4), 9(6) and 11(5) of Regulation (EU) 2019/2088

Given that the RTS is issued under the SFDR, it will apply to the same entities.

The Act can be divided into two sections:

  • reporting adverse impacts at entity level: information on the main adverse impacts of investment decisions on sustainability factors - including detailed indicators for social and environmental impacts; and
  • pre-contractual and periodic information on financial products: applicable to products with objective environmental or social or sustainable investment features, including provisions on the criterion for determining the sustainability degree that "does not significantly harm any of the environmental objectives"

With regard to adverse impact reporting at entity level, the draft sets out the content, methodology and presentation of information required on sustainability indicators in relation to both adverse impacts on climate and other adverse environmental impacts, as well as adverse impacts in the areas of social and employee issues, respect for human rights, anti-corruption and anti-bribery issues. It includes a mandatory reporting template, with information focusing on a set of indicators that are divided into mandatory universal indicators and additional environmental and social indicators. The information may also include narrative policy reporting elements on the identification of key negative impacts, actions taken and planned to mitigate key negative impacts, adherence to international standards and a historical comparison covering at least five previous reporting periods.

With regard to the dissemination of pre-contractual information at the level of the financial product on environmental or social features and sustainable investment objectives, the draft sets out the details of the content and presentation of the information to be disseminated at the pre-contractual level. In order to design a single set of pre-contractual disclosures, the European authorities opted for a balance between comprehensibility and comprehensibility. The information was too complex for retail investors, but the presentation was too simple for institutional investors, so the approach chosen for pre-contractual disclosure granularity is one of minimum standardisation of requirements, which includes mandatory templates. In addition to the mandatory templates in the appendices, the draft sets out a list of items that must be included in the reporting.

 

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[1] Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2015/35 of 10 October 2014 supplementing Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the taking-up and pursuit of the business of Insurance and Reinsurance (Solvency II)