ESMA has submitted its final report to the European Commission proposing a postponement of the trade reporting start-date for exchange-traded derivatives (ETDs) under EMIR.

The proposal seeks to amend the implementing technical standard on the format and frequency of reporting to trade repositories introduced under EMIR, and will effectively postpone the reporting start-date for ETDs by one year, until 1 January 2015.

The obligation to report an ETD transaction to a trade repository under EMIR falls on the party identified as the counterparty to the ETD transaction. However, depending upon the different scenarios in which a relevant transaction might be executed on exchange, it is currently not always evident under the relevant rules as to which party should be identified as the counterparty. Therefore, and as matters currently stand, the question of whom the reporting obligation applies to is somewhat ambiguous.

Accordingly, ESMA is proposing to postpone the ETD reporting start-date in order to allow for further time to develop clear guidance as to the identification of ETD counterparties under different transaction scenarios. Such guidance, ESMA contends, is justified by the need to implement stable and reliable reporting systems that can be trusted by reporting counterparties, trade repositories and regulators alike.

Contributed by James Phelan