On September 27, 2018, the European Securities and Markets Authority published a final report on the exemption from the clearing obligation for intragroup transactions with a third-country group entity. There are currently three sets of Regulatory Technical Standards made under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation that impose the clearing obligation of certain interest rate derivatives and credit derivatives. Each of these three RTS exempts from the clearing obligation certain intragroup derivatives transactions where one of the counterparties is a third-country group entity and there is no relevant equivalence decision in respect of the third country in which it is situated. An equivalence decision would enable parties that are subject to both the EU and a third country's clearing obligation to comply only with one jurisdiction's requirements, but no equivalence decisions have been made to date. Each of the three RTS sets a different expiry date for the intra-group exemption. These dates fall between December 21, 2018 and July 9, 2019.
Following a consultation launched in July 2018, ESMA's final report contains final draft amending RTS setting out ESMA's proposal to extend the exemption period by amending each of the RTS to have one unified expiry date of December 21, 2020. The final draft amending RTS have been submitted to the European Commission for endorsement.
The Final Report is available at: https://www.esma.europa.eu/sites/default/files/library/esma70-151-1768_final_report_no.6_on_the_clearing_obligation_intragroup.pdf .
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