Background

On 19 December 2018, the ESMA issued a public statement to clarify that it was ready to review the recognition applications of the central counterparties established in the UK ("UK CCPs") and of the central securities depository established in the UK ("UK CSDs") for a no-deal Brexit scenario, if the 4 recognition conditions respectively under Article 25 of EMIR (available here) and Article 25 of CSDR (available here) were met (ESMA70-151-2032 ? the "Public Statement", available here).

On 18 February 2019, the ESMA published a first press release announcing that it would recognise 3 UK CCPs (i.e. LCH Limited, ICE Clear Europe Limited and LME Clear Limited) to provide their services in the EU in the event of a "no-deal" Brexit (ESMA71-99-1114? the "Press Release 1", available here).

What's new?

On 1 March 2019, following-up on the Public Statement and the Press Release 1, the ESMA issued a second press release announcing that it would, in the event of a "no-deal" Brexit, recognise 2 UK CSDs (i.e. Euroclear UK and Ireland Limited) as 3rd country CSDs under Article 25 of CSDR, in order to provide their services in the EU (ESMA71-99-1119 ? the "Press Release 2").

For further information, the Press Release 2 is available here.

What's next?

The recognition decision would take effect on the date following Brexit date, under a "no-deal" Brexit scenario.

Background

The processing of personal data in the EU is based on the Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament (the "Parliament") and of the Council of the EU (the "Council") on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, which applies since 25 May 2018 (the "GDPR", available here).

Chapter V (Articles 44 to 50) of the GDPR sets out the rules concerning international transfers of personal data. Pursuant to Article 45(3) of the GDPR, the European Commission (the "Commission") may decide, by means of an implementing act, that a 3rd country ensures an adequate level of protection. Transfers of personal data to that 3rd country can then take place without the need to obtain any further authorisation, as provided for in Article 45(1) and Recital 103 of the GDPR.

On 10 January 2017, the Commission published a communication on exchanging and protecting personal data in a globalised world (the "Communication", available here). It presented the Commission's strategy for engaging with selected 3rd countries in the future to reach adequacy decisions and promoting international data protection standards through multilateral instruments.

On 6 July 2017, Commission's President Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker and Japan's Prime Minister Mr. Shinzo Abe committed to adopting a mutual adequacy decision, as part of the EU and Japan's shared commitment to promote high data protection standards on the international scene (the "Statement", available here).

On 17 July 2018, the EU and Japan successfully concluded their talks on reciprocal adequacy (the "Press Release", available here). It was agreed to recognise each other's data protection systems as adequate, allowing personal data to be transferred safely between the EU and Japan.

Japan put in place additional safeguards to guarantee that data transferred from the EU enjoy protection guarantees in line with the GDPR. This included (i) a set of rules that shall bridge several differences between the 2nd data protection systems, for instance, the protection of sensitive data; (ii) assurances given by Japanese government to the Commission regarding safeguards concerning the access of Japanese public authorities for criminal law enforcement and national security purposes; and (iii) a new complaint-handling mechanism to investigate and resolve complaints from EU individuals regarding access to their data by Japanese public authorities.

On 5 September 2018, in order to commence the formal adoption process, the Commission published its draft implementing decision pursuant to the GDPR of the Parliament and of the Council on the adequate protection of personal data by Japan (the "Draft Adequacy Decision", available here on 5 September 2018, the "Press Release", available here). In the Recitals of the Draft Adequacy Decision, the Commission concluded that Japan ensures an adequate level of protection for personal data transferred to organisations falling within the scope of application of the 2003 Act No.57 on the Protection of Personal Information (the "Act", a tentative translation is available here) and subject to the additional conditions referred to in the Draft Adequacy Decision.

On 25 September 2018, the Commission asked for the opinion of the European Data Protection Board (the "EDPB"). In the light of the discussions held with the EDPB, the Commission modified its Draft Adequacy Decision twice and sent its last version on 13 November 2018 (the "Latest Version of the Draft Adequacy Decision").

On 5 December 2018, the EDPB adopted an opinion 28/2018 (the "EDPB Opinion", available here), which was based on the Latest Version of Draft Adequacy Decision. The EDPB focused on the assessment of both the commercial aspects of the Latest Version of Draft Adequacy Decision and on the government access to personal data transferred from the EU for the purposes of law enforcement and national security, including the legal remedies available to EU individuals. The EDPB also assessed whether the safeguards provided under the Japanese legal framework are in place and effective.

The EU-Japan adequacy decision was the 1st one to be examined against the new legal 'backcloth' of the GDPR and the EDPB considered this work to be all the more important in light of the effects of the Latest Version of the Draft Adequacy Decision for future adequacy applications. The EU-Japan adequacy would also be the 1st mutual one.

On 23 January 2019, the Commission published its implementing decision pursuant to the GDPR on the adequate protection of personal data by Japan under the Act (C(2019) 304 final – the "Final Adequacy Decision", available here). The Final Adequacy Decision has 2 Annexes (together the "Annexes", available here) which reflect negotiations with Japanese authorities:

• Annex I on supplementary rules under the Act for the handling of personal data transferred from the EU based on the Final Adequacy Decision. It provides for additional protections that Japanese business operators will have to apply to the processing of personal data transferred from the EU; and
• Annex II on collection and use of personal information by Japanese public authorities for criminal law enforcement and national security purposes. It contains assurances and commitments from the Japanese government concerning public authorities' access to data.

 The Commission has published also related questions and answers document (the "Q&A", available here) and a factsheet (the "Factsheet", available here).

What's new?

On 19 March 2019, the Final Adequacy Decision was published in the Official Journal of the European Union ("OJEU") in the form of the Commission implementing decision 2019/419 (the "Implementing Decision 2019/419").

The Implementing Decision 2019/419 is available here.

What's next?

The Implementing Decision 2019/419 as well as an equivalent decision on Japanese side - applies since its notification on 23 January 2019.

The Commission shall continuously monitor the application of the legal framework upon which the Implementing Decision 2019/419 is based, including the conditions under which onward transfers are carried out, with a view to assessing whether Japan continues to ensure an adequate level of protection.

Within 2 years from the date of the notification of the Implementing Decision 2019/419 to the Member States and subsequently at least every 4 years, the Commission shall evaluate the finding of the adequacy of the level of protection ensured by Japan on the basis of all available information, including the information received as part of joint review carried out together with the relevant Japanese authorities.

Background

The directive 2014/65/EU and the regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on markets in financial instruments apply since 3 January 2018 (respectively "MiFID II", available here and "MiFIR", available here), introducing pre-trade and post-trade transparency requirements for equity and non-equity instruments. For transactions whose size is above the relevant large-in-scale ("LIS") thresholds and the size specific to the instruments ("SSTI"), pre-trade transparency requirements may be waived and the publication of post-trade information can be deferred.

On 1 March 2019, the ESMA issued a press release (the "Press Release 1", available here) stating that it has decided to delay the publication of the annual transparency calculations of the LIS and SSTI thresholds for bonds, due to the IT systems requiring more time than expected to complete the required calculations.

What's new?

On 6 March 2019, the ESMA issued a press release (the "Press Release 2") stating that it has published the annual transparency calculations for equity and equity-like instruments (available here), which are applicable from 1 April 2019 until 31 March 2020. Those calculations include:

• The liquidity assessment as per Articles 1 to 5 of the Commission delegated regulation (EU) 2017/567 (available here) supplementing MiFIR with regard to definitions, transparency, portfolio compression and supervisory measures on product intervention and positions;
• The determination of the most relevant market ("MRM") in terms of liquidity as per Article 4 of the Commission delegated regulation (EU) 2017/587 ("RTS 1", available here) supplementing MiFIR with regard to regulatory technical standards on transparency requirements for trading venues and investment firms in respect of shares, depositary receipts, exchange-traded funds, certificates and other similar financial instruments and on transaction execution obligations in respect of certain shares on a trading venue or by a systematic internaliser;
• The determination of the average daily turnover ("ADT") relevant for the determination of the pre-trade and post-trade LIS thresholds;
• The determination of the average value of the transactions ("AVT") and the related standard market size ("SMS"); and
• The determination of the average daily number of transactions on the most relevant market in terms of liquidity relevant for the determination of the tick-size regime.

There currently are 1,344 liquid shares and 389 liquid equity-like instruments other than shares, subject to MiFID II/MiFIR transparency requirements.

On 7 March 2019, the ESMA issued a press release (the "Press Release 3") stating that it has updated its public register (available here) with:

• The latest set of double volume cap ("DVC") data under MiFID II;
• Calculations for the period of 1 February 2018 to 31 January 2019; and
• Updates to already published DVC periods.

On 14 March 2019, the ESMA issued a press release (the "Press Release 4") stating that it has updated its Interactive Single Rulebook (the "Update", available here). The Update includes all Level 2 and Level 3 measures related to MiFID II/MiFIR. The ESMA's Interactive Single Rulebook aims to facilitate the consistent application of the EU single rulebook in the securities markets area.

On 18 March 2019, following up on the Press Release 1, the ESMA issued a press release (the "Press Release 5") stating that it has published the annual transparency calculations of the LIS and SSTI thresholds for bonds, which are applicable from 1 June 2019 until 31 May 2020. The results are published on a per bond-type basis in excel format in the annual transparency calculations for non-equity instruments register (the "Register", available here). The calculations have been published in advance of the yearly deadline of 30 April provided by Article 13(17) of the Commission delegated regulation (EU) 2017/583 ("RTS 2", available here).

For further information, the Press Releases 2, 3, 4 and 5 are respectively available here, here, here and here.

What's next?

The transitional transparency calculations ("TTC") continue to apply until the annual transparency calculations for equity and equity-like instruments become applicable from 1 April 2019. Due to late data submissions by some reporting entities and adaptations that are necessary in the event the UK leaves the EU on 29 March 2019, under a "no-deal" scenario, the ESMA will likely have to update the calculations after 29 March 2019. From 1 April 2020, the next annual transparency calculations for equity and equity-like instruments, to be published by 1 March 2020, will become applicable.

From 1 June 2020, the next annual calculations of the LIS and SSTI thresholds for bonds, to be published by 30 April 2020, will become applicable.

Background

The Regulation (EU) No 1286/2014 on key information documents ("KIDs") for packaged retail and insurance-based investment products applies since 1 January 2018 (the "PRIIPs Regulation", available here). In accordance with Article 32 of the PRIIPs Regulation, UCITS and certain non-UCITS funds offered to retail investors are granted a transitional period concerning the format and content of their KID until 31 December 2019.

Against this background, the Commission delegated regulation (EU) 2017/653 supplementing the PRIIPs Regulation lays down regulatory technical standards ("RTS") with regard to the presentation, content, review and revision of the KIDs and the conditions for fulfilling the requirement to provide such documents (the "DR 2017/653", available here). In particular, the dates mentioned in Articles 14(2) and 18 of the DR 2017/653 are aligned with those in Article 32 of the PRIIPs Regulation.

On 8 February 2019, the ESAs published their final report following joint consultation paper concerning amendments to the PRIIPs KID (JC 2019 6.2 ? the "Final Report", available here). In the Final Report, the ESAs indicated that it was necessary, following the political agreement to amend the date in Article 32 of the PRIIPs Regulation that took place during the trilogue on the cross-border distribution of investment funds, to amend the date in Article 18 of the DR 2017/653. That amendment to the PRIIPs Regulation will extend by 2 years, from 31 December 2019 to 31 December 2021, the time period for which UCITS and relevant non-UCITS funds are exempted from preparing a PRIIPs KID.

What's new?

On 8 March 2019, following up on the Final Report, the ESAs submitted the draft RTS amending the DR 2017/653 (JC 2019 16 – the "Draft RTS") and a dedicated letter (JC 2019 17 – the "Letter") to the European Commission.

The aim of the ESAs’ Draft RTS is to provide, in good time, legal certainty to market participants before the expiry of the current provision in Article 18 of the DR 2017/653 at the end of 2019. The amendment proposed in the Draft RTS clarifies the application of the KID to investment funds where these are offered as underlying investment options to a PRIIP (referred as "multi-option products" or "MOPs").

The Draft RTS are available here.

The Letter is available here.

What's next?

The Commission may decide to endorse the draft RTS within 3 months. The ESAs kindly urge the Commission to consider a shortened endorsement procedure in this instance.

Background

The Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market, and repealing the "Directive 2003/71/EC" (available here) entered into force on 20 July 2017 and will mostly apply as from 21 July 2019 (the "Prospectus Regulation", available here).

Until that date, the following Commission (delegated) regulations shall apply:

• Commission delegated regulation (EU) No 382/2014 of 7 March 2014 supplementing Directive 2003/71/EC with regard to regulatory technical standards ("RTS") for publication of supplements to the prospectus (the "Regulation 382/2014", available here);
• Commission regulation (EC) No 809/2004 of 29 April 2004 implementing the Directive 2003/71/EC as regards information contained in prospectuses as well as the format, incorporation by reference and publication of such prospectuses and dissemination of advertisements shall apply (the "Regulation 809/2004", availablehere); and
• Commission delegated regulation (EU) 2016/301 of 30 November 2015 supplementing Directive 2003/71/EC with regard to RTS for approval and publication of the prospectus and dissemination of advertisements and amending the Regulation 809/2004 (the "Regulation 2016/301", available here).

On 17 July 2018, the ESMA published its final report on draft RTS under the Prospectus Regulation (ESMA31-62-1002 – the "Final Report", available here).

On 26 December 2018, the Commission services closed its consultation on a draft Commission delegated regulation (EU) .../... of xxx supplementing the Prospectus Regulation as regards the format, content, scrutiny and approval of the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market (respectively Ref. Ares(2018)6089173 – the "Draft Delegated Regulation", and Ares(2018)6089173/1-29 – the "Draft Annexes", both available here). As a reminder, the Draft Delegated Regulation comprises the following chapters and sections:

• Chapter I - Definitions;
• Chapter II - Content of the prospectus
• Section 1 - Minimum information to be included in the registration documents;
• Section 2 - Minimum information to be included in the securities notes; and
• Section 3 - Additional information to be included in the prospectus.
• Chapter III - Format of the prospectus;
• Chapter IV - The EU Growth prospectus;
• Chapter V - Scrutiny and approval of the prospectus and review of the universal registration document; and
• Chapter VI - Final provisions.

In order for the Commission services to perform a detailed analyses of the 16 stakeholders' answers received, to incorporate some of the proposed changes and to have the revised draft act translated, the adoption of the delegated regulation had to be postponed in March 2019.

What's new?

On 14 March 2019, following-up on the Final Report, the Draft Delegated Regulation and Draft Annexes, the European Commission adopted and published the following delegated regulations (altogether referred as the "Delegated Regulations"):

• Commission delegated regulation (EU) .../... supplementing the Prospectus Regulation as regards the format, content, scrutiny and approval of the prospectus to be published when securities are offered to the public or admitted to trading on a regulated market, and repealing the Regulation 809/2004 ("C(2019) 2020 final" – the main part and its 29 annexes are respectively available here and here); and
• Commission delegated regulation (EU) .../... supplementing the Prospectus Regulation with regard to RTS on key financial information in the summary of a prospectus, the publication and classification of prospectuses, advertisements for securities, supplements to a prospectus, and the notification portal, and repealing the Regulation 382/2014 and the Regulation 2016/301 ("C(2019) 2022 final" – the main part and its 7 annexes are respectively available here and here).

What's next?

The Delegated Regulations are subject to the 3-month scrutiny of the European Parliament and of the Council of the EU, before being published in the OJEU.

The final texts of the Delegated Regulations (and respective annexes) should apply as from 21 July 2019, which would coincide with the entry into application of most provisions of the Prospectus Regulation.

Background

The EU intends to globally lead the shift and scale up private investment towards achieving the objectives of the Paris climate agreement (the "PCA", available here), through its capital markets union's ("CMU", available here) efforts to connect finance with the needs of the economy and the EU's 2030 agenda for sustainable development (the "2030 Agenda", available here).

The regulation (EU) 2016/1011 of the European Parliament (the "Parliament") and of the Council of the EU (the "Council") on indices used as benchmarks in financial instruments and financial contracts applies since 1 January 2018 ("BMR", available here). BMR is relevant for any investment fund that uses any benchmark to assess its performance, to define asset allocation of its portfolio, or to compute its performance fees.

On 24 May 2018, the European Commission ("Commission") proposed a series of legislative measures (IP/18/3729 ? the "PR 1", available here), following up on the EU action plan on financing sustainable growth (COM(2018) 97 final ? the "EU Action Plan", available here), to enable the EU financial sector to throw its full weight behind the fight against climate change. Amongst the aforementioned measures, the Commission proposed a regulation of the Parliament and of the Council amending BMR on low carbon benchmarks and positive carbon impact benchmarks (COM(2018) 355 final – the "Benchmarks' Proposal" with "Annex", respectively available here and here).

What's new?

On 25 February 2019, both the Council and the Commission issued a press release (respectively 137/19 ? the "PR 2", IP/19/1418 ? the "PR 3") informing that the Presidency of the Council ("Presidency") and the Parliament reached a political agreement (the "Agreement") on the Benchmarks' Proposal.

Through the Agreement, 2 new categories of voluntary financial benchmarks would be created:

• EU climate-transition benchmarks, which aim to lower the carbon footprint of a standard investment portfolio; and
• EU Paris-aligned benchmarks, which aim to only select companies that contribute to attaining the "2°C reduction" set out in the PCA.

In order to avoid "greenwashing", the Agreement would oblige all benchmarks/families of benchmarks to provide an explanation of how environmental, social and governance ("ESG") factors are reflected in their investment strategy, as well as how the methodology aligns with the target of reducing carbon emissions.

Moreover, the Agreement would provide a 2-year extension of the transition regime until 31 December 2021 for "critical" (i.e. interest rates such as Euribor and EONIA) and 3rd-country benchmarks to comply with BMR. Given the crucial importance of 3rd-country benchmarks for EU companies, the extended transition period for these benchmarks was introduced in part to provide additional time for work with non-EU regulators on how these benchmarks can be recognised as equivalent or otherwise endorsed for use in the EU.

The PR 2 and PR 3 in relation to the Agreement are available here and here.

What's next?

Based on the Agreement, further technical talks will follow to finalise the text. Such text will then be submitted to the EU ambassadors for endorsement, after which it will undergo a legal linguistic revision.

The Parliament and the Council will be called on to adopt the proposed final text of the regulation amending BMR at first reading.

A technical expert group will advise the Commission on (i) how to select the companies eligible for inclusion in the new benchmarks, and (ii) whether to exclude certain sectors of economic activity from the specialised EU Paris-aligned benchmarks. Once the expert group has given its advice, the Commission will propose delegated rules that cover the composition of the EU climate-transition benchmarks and the EU Paris-aligned benchmarks in further detail.

Background

On 8 March 2018, the European Commission (the "Commission") unveiled its action plan on financing sustainable growth (COM(2018) 97 final – the "Action Plan", available here). It has 3 main objectives: (i) reorient capital flows towards sustainable investment, in order to achieve sustainable and inclusive growth; (ii) manage financial risks stemming from climate change, environmental degradation and social issues; and (iii) foster transparency and long-termism in financial and economic activity.

In particular, the Action Plan shall address the following problems: (i) institutional investors, asset managers, investment advisors and insurance distributors lack incentives to consider Environment, Social and Governance ("ESG") factors in their investment and advisory process; and (ii) end-investors face high search costs to identify what constitute sustainable investments and to assess the extent to which ESG factors are integrated in EU financial products (and hence to curb so-called "greenwashing" – i.e. the risk that products and services which are marketed as sustainable or climate friendly in reality do not meet the sustainability or climate objectives claimed to be pursued).

On 24 May 2018, the Commission proposed a series of legislative measures, following up on the Action Plan, to enable the EU financial sector to throw its full weight behind the fight against climate change (IP/18/3729 ? the "1st Press Release", available here). Amongst the aforementioned measures, the Commission published a proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament (the "Parliament") and of the Council of the EU (the "Council") on disclosures relating to sustainable investments and sustainability risks (COM(2018) 354 final – the "Disclosure Proposal", available here).

The Disclosure Proposal introduced transparency obligations on how financial companies integrate ESG factors in their investment decisions. It covered the following financial services sectors: (i) investment funds; (ii) insurance based investment products; (iii) private and occupational pensions (it amended the Directive (EU) 2016/2341 of the Parliament and of the Council on the activities and supervision of institutions for occupational retirement provision ("IORPs") (the "Directive 2016/2341", available here), (iv) individual portfolio management; and (v) both insurance and investment advice.

What's new?

On 7 March 2019, both the Council and the Commission issued press releases (respectively 172/19 – the "2nd Press Release" and IP/19/1571 – the "3rd Press Release") informing that Romanian presidency of the Council and the Parliament reached a preliminary agreement on the Disclosure Proposal (the "Political Agreement").

The text agreed sets out a harmonised EU approach to the integration of ESG risks and opportunities into the procedures of institutional investors. It requires them to disclose:

• The procedures they have in place to integrate ESG risks into their investment and advisory process;
• The extent to which those risks might have an impact on the profitability of the investment; and
• Where institutional investors claim to be pursuing a "green" investment strategy, information on how this strategy is implemented and the sustainability or climate impact of their products and portfolios.

The 2nd Press Release and the 3rd Press Release in relation to the Political Agreement are available here and here.

What's next?

The Political Agreement will be submitted to EU ambassadors for endorsement. It will then undergo a legal linguistic revision. The Parliament and the Council will be called on to adopt the proposed regulation at 1st reading.

Background

In January 2016, the Commission launched a three-step process for establishing the common EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions as part of its broader agenda to curb tax evasion and avoidance. This initiative was justified by the fact that a common EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions will carry much more weight than the existing patchwork of national lists when dealing with non-EU countries that refuse to comply with international tax good governance standards.

On 5 December 2017, the ECOFIN Council published its conclusions on the EU common list of non-cooperative jurisdictions in tax matters, also referred to as the "blacklist". This initiative forms part of the EU’s broader agenda on furthering tax transparency, fair taxation and the implementation of anti-BEPS measures with the dual aim of raising the level of good global governance and tackling tax fraud, evasion and avoidance.

On 21 March 2018, guidelines have been adopted which marked the first step in stopping the transit of EU funds through non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.

What's new?

On 12 March 2019, the ECOFIN Council adopted a revised EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes.

In addition to the 5 jurisdictions that were already listed, the revised EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions now also includes the following 10 jurisdictions: Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Dominica, Fiji, Marshall Islands, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Vanuatu.

The link is available here.

What's next?

The countries blacklisted will have to change their legislation in order to align with the EU standards.

Background

On 24 October 2018, the CSSF issued the "Circular 18/701" (available here) on FATF statements concerning:

• Jurisdictions whose anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism ("AML/CFT") regime has substantial and strategic deficiencies;
• Jurisdictions whose AML/CFT regime requires the application of enhanced due diligence measures proportionate to the risks arising from these jurisdictions; and
• Jurisdictions whose AML/CFT regime is not satisfactory.

On 22 February 2019, the FATF issued a public statement on AML/CFT regime (the "Public Statement", available here).

On 22 February 2019, the FATF published another public document entitled 'Improving global AML/CFT compliance: on-going process' (the "Ongoing Compliance Review", available here), which identifies countries or jurisdictions with strategic weaknesses in their AML/CFT measures, but which have provided a high-level commitment to an action plan developed with the FATF.

What's new?

On 1 March 2019, the CSSF issued its circular 19/711 regarding the Public Statement and the Ongoing Compliance Review, which is addressed to all the persons and entities under the supervision of the CSSF (the "Circular 19/711").

In the Circular 19/711, the CSSF highlights the following jurisdictions:

On the same date, the CSSF published on its website the Ministerial regulation of 1 March 2019, which amends the Annex I C of the Grand-ducal Regulation of 29 October 2010 enforcing the Law of 27 October 2010 relating to the implementation of UN Security Council resolutions as well as acts adopted by the EU concerning prohibitions and restrictive measures in financial matters in respect of certain persons, entities and groups in the context of the combat against terrorist financing (the "Ministerial Regulation").

For further information, the Circular 19/711 is available here (only in French).

The Ministerial Regulation is available here.

What's next?

The Circular 19/711 repealed the Circular 18/701 from 1 March 2019.

The CSSF will continue to monitor the FATF statements and ongoing compliance reviews.

At its June 2019 meeting, the FATF will assess Iran's progress and take appropriate measures requiring, where necessary, the implementation of enhanced controls against subsidiaries and branches of financial institutions located in Iran. Iran will remain on the list until the full action plan has been completed.

Background

On 20 April 2018, pursuant to the European Supervisory Authorities' risk-based supervision guidelines (ESAs 2016 72 – the "ESAs Guidelines", available here) and the Financial Action Task Force's recommendations (the "FATF Recommendations", available here), the CSSF informed professionals under its supervision that it would henceforth conduct an annual online survey (the "Annual Survey") collecting standardised key information concerning money laundering and terrorist financing ("ML/TF") risks (the "PR 18/15", available here).

Against this background, the CSSF has elaborated new sector specific questionnaires supporting on the one hand, the identification of ML/TF risk factors most notably related to clients, countries and geographical areas, delivery or distribution channels, products and services of supervised entities and, on the other hand, the measures put in place to mitigate these risks.

What's new?

On 19 March 2019, the CSSF issued a communiqué (the "Communiqué") highlighting that the deadline for answering the annual online AML/CFT questionnaires (the "Questionnaires") is on 15 April 2019 (COB).

In particular, the Questionnaires are addressed to the authorised management and the AML/CFT compliance officers of banks, investment firms, specialised professionals of the financial sector ("PFS"), electronic money and payment institutions and authorised or registered investment fund managers or non-AIF SIF/SICARs.

The Communiqué is available here.

For further information, the CSSF AML/CFT portal is available here.

What's next?

The Questionnaires to be submitted by stakeholders on 15 April 2019 (COB) are accessible here.

In case stakeholders have problems accessing the Questionnaires, they can contact the CSSF at gfd@cssf.lu.

Background

The Directive (EU) 2015/849 on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purposes of money laundering or terrorist financing applies since 26 June 2017 ("4AMLD", available here). In particular, Article 30 of 4AMLD provides for the creation of a register of beneficial owners ("BO Register") in each Member State.

The Directive (EU) 2018/843 ("5AMLD", available here), which entered into force on 9 July 2018 and will apply from 10 January 2020, opens the access to this information to the public at large as it has removed the need to demonstrate a legitimate interest to access to the information filed with the BO Register.

On 15 January 2019, based on the adopted "Bill 7217" (available here only in French), the Luxembourg law of 13 January 2019 establishing a BO Register ('Registre des bénéficiaires effectifs" or "RBE" in French) was published in the Luxembourg Memorial A15 (the "Law", available here only in French).

On 22 January 2019, the Luxembourg Conseil d'état ("CE") published its opinion (N°CE: 53.091 - the "Opinion", available here only in French) on a draft Grand-ducal regulation implementing the Law (the "Draft Regulation", available here only in French). In this context, the Draft Regulation comprises the following 4 Chapters and Annex A:

• Registration procedures of the BO (Articles 1 to 6);
• Access to (BO) information (Articles 7 to 10);
• Payment terms (Articles 11 to 12);
• Transitional, amending and repealing provisions (Articles 13 to 15); and
• Table of administrative costs (in relation to the functioning of the BO Register).

In the Opinion, the CE recommends to amend or delete Articles 4 (2), 5. c), 8, 11, 12, 13 and the Annex A of the Draft Regulation

On 19 February 2019, based on the Draft Regulation and the Opinion, the Grand-ducal regulation of 15 February 2019, which relates to registration, payment of administrative fees and access to information recorded in the BO Register, was published in the Luxembourg Memorial A73 (the "Final Regulation" or "Règlement grand-ducal du 15 février 2019 relatif aux modalités d'inscription, de paiement des frais administratifs ainsi qu'à l'accès aux informations inscrites au Registre des bénéficiaires effectifs", available here only in French). Besides some minor deletions or amendments to the Draft Regulation (following most of the CE recommendations), the overall structure of the Final Regulation remains identical to the one used in the Draft Regulation (still containing 15 Articles in 4 Chapters). However, it is to be noted that Article 5(1°) and (3°) of the Final Regulation concerning supporting documentation (pursuant to Article 4(3) of the Law) has been further clarified.

What's new?

On 27 February 2019, the Luxembourg Business Registers ("LBR") published its first circular on the BO Register (the "Circular LBR 19/01", available here only in French). As indicated in the disclaimer of the Circular LBR 19/01, the notes presented by the LBR are of a documentary and explanatory nature (they have no legal value and do not engage the responsibility of the LBR). They are are intended to answer certain questions that users of the BO Register may have.

On 1 March 2019, the Law and the Final Regulation entered into force. In accordance with Article 1(2°) of the Law, the BO Register will be managed by the LBR (available here) from that date.

What's next?

On 14 March 2019, the LBR communicated that the next informative session on the BO Register will take place on 30 April 2019 at the Chamber of Skilled Trades and Crafts, from 14h00 until 15h30 (registration link available here only in French).

Pursuant to Article 13 of the Final Regulation, entities subject to the Law will be exempted to pay the administrative fees detailed in the Annex A to the Final Regulation until 1 September 2019 (i.e. 6 months after the entry into force of the Final Regulation).

Background

On 31 August 2001, the Luxembourg Law of 1 August 2001 on the circulation of securities was published in the Memorial A N°106 (the "2001 Law", respectively available here in French and here in English). The 2001 Law was significantly amended in 2005 and 2013.

In view of recent technological developments, the Luxembourg Government has contemplated to modernise the existing framework by specifying in the 2001 Law that securities may also be registered and transferred using secure electronic registration mechanisms, including those based on blockchain technologies. With regard to the operation of securities accounts in blockchain distributed ledgers, the use of the "token" concept is especially of importance. As a digital asset stored in a blockchain, a token would represent a new type of dematerialised securities from a technological point of view. One of the properties of blockchain distributed ledgers is that all transactions are traced in the blockchain and cannot be modified once they have been locked in a block. From a legal point of view, the same rights that are attached to classic dematerialised securities would be attached to tokens.

On 27 September 2018, the Luxembourg Minister of Finance submitted the bill 7363 amending the 2001 Law to the Luxembourg Parliament (the "Bill 7363", available here only in French). The main purpose of the Bill 7363 is to enable financial market participants to take full advantage, "in full legal certainty", of the opportunities offered by new technologies in the field of securities' circulation. In particular, the Bill 7363 would introduce a new Article 18a in the 2001 Law.

On 13 November 2018 and 3 December 2018, the Luxembourg Conseil d'État (the "CE") and the Chambre de Commerce (the "CC") respectively issued their opinions on the Bill 7363 (respectively 7363/01 ? the "CE Opinion", available here in French, and 7363/02 – the "CC Opinion", available here only in French). Neither the CE nor the CC commented on the text of the Bill 7363. On 29 January 2019, the Bill 7363 was referred to the parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee (the "COFIBU"), which subsequently adopted a draft report at its session on 8 February 2019 (7363/03 ? the "Draft Report", available here only in French). The COFIBU did not propose any substantive amendments to the text of the Bill 7363.

On 14 February 2019, the Parliament voted at first reading on the Bill 7363 (the "Vote", available here only in French), and requested the CE to waive the second constitutional vote on the Bill 7363. On 15 February 2019, the CE unanimously waived the 2nd constitutional vote on the Bill 7363 (53.085 – the "Waiver", available here only in French).

What's new?

On 5 March 2019, based on the adopted Bill 7363, the Luxembourg law of 1 March 2019 amending the 2001 Law on the circulation of securities was published in the Luxembourg Memorial A N°111 (the "2019 Law").

As a reminder, the 2019 Law introduces a new Article 18a into the 2001 Law, which enables financial market participants to take full advantage, "in full legal certainty", of the opportunities offered by new technologies (e.g. Blockchain) in relation to the circulation of securities.

The 2019 Law is available here (only in French).

What's next?

The 2019 Law entered into force on 9 March 2019.

Background

In order to avoid the risks that may arise from a "no-deal" Brexit for financial stability, the proper functioning of the financial markets, the institutions of the Luxembourg financial sector and their customers, the applicants, the investors, the holders of shares and policyholders, the Luxembourg Government considers it important that the competent authorities in Luxembourg have the necessary powers to ensure, where appropriate, the continuation of certain contracts after the exit day (currently on 29 March 2019) for a determined period. Against this background, a "no-deal" Brexit within the meaning of Article 50(2) of the Treaty on EU ("TEU", available here) could have impact on the following Luxembourg financial legislation:

• Law of 5 April 1993 on the financial sector, as amended (the "LSF", available here);
• Law of 10 November 2009 on payment services, as amended (the "Payment Law", available here);
• Law of 17 December 2010 on undertakings for collective investment, as amended (the "UCI Law", available here);
• Law of 12 July 2013 on alternative investment fund managers, as amended (the "AIFM Law", available here);
• Law of 7 December 2015 on the insurance sector (the "Insurance Law", available here only in French); and
• Law of 18 December 2015 on the failure of credit institutions and certain investment firms (the "Resolution Law", available here).

On 31 January 2019, the Luxembourg Minister of Finance submitted the bill 7401, which concerns measures to be taken in relation to the financial sector in the event of a "no-deal" Brexit and amends the LSF, the Payment Law, the UCI Law, the AIFM Law, the Insurance Law and the Resolution Law, to the Luxembourg Parliament (the "Bill 7401", available here only in French). In particular, Article 1 of the Bill 7401 would give the Luxembourg CSSF the power to apply after Brexit the provisions of Article 30 of the LSF to credit institutions and companies providing investment services under British law, which are based on the "EU passport" at the time of Brexit, to carry out banking activities or to provide investment services in Luxembourg. The CSSF may apply these rules only for a maximum transitional period of 21 months after the exit day.

On 7 February 2019, the Bill 7401 was referred to the parliamentary Finance and Budget Committee (the "COFIBU").

On 5 March 2019, the Luxembourg Conseil d'État (the "CE") issued its opinion on the Bill 7401 (53.255 ? the "Opinion", available here only in French). The CE has not raised any formal objections to the Bill 7401, but considers that it would have been more appropriate to see the initiatives of national legislators framed by a general mechanism at European level. In the Opinion, the CE recommends at most to amend some of the wording of Articles 1 - 5 of the Bill 7401 in order to stress the non-automatic and ad hoc nature of the application of the measures to be taken in relation to the financial sector in a "no-deal" Brexit scenario. The Opinion states that, while the effective date of Brexit is considered to be on 30 March 2019, the CE suggests not to refer to any specific dates in the law since a postponement cannot be excluded.

What's new?

On 18 March 2019, the COFIBU issued its report on the Bill 7401, as adopted on 15 March 2019 (7401/02 ? the "Report").

In the Report, the COFIBU follows most of the general legislative observations proposed by the CE.

For further information, the Report is available here (only in French).

What's next?

The final version of the law would enter into force on the day on which the UK, in accordance with Article 50(3) of the TEU, would withdraw from the EU without a withdrawal agreement as referred to in Article 50(2) of the TEU.

Background

On 15 March 2019, the Luxembourg Government Council met and adopted a draft bill (the "Press Release", available here only in French), which concerns measures to be taken in relation to the financial sector in the event of the withdrawal of the UK from the EU. Such draft legislation would amend (i) the Luxembourg law of 17 December 2010 relating to undertakings for collective investment (the "UCI Law", available here) and (ii) the law of 13 February 2007 relating to specialised investment funds (the "SIF Law", available here).

Contrary to the "Bill 7401" (available here only in French), which strictly concerns measures to be taken in relation to the financial sector in the event of a "no-deal" Brexit and amends the LSF (available here), the Payment Law (available here), the UCI Law, the AIFM Law (available here), the Insurance Law (available here only in French) and the Resolution Law (available here), the present draft legislation would apply in all other cases of withdrawal of the UK from the EU, regardless of the conclusion of a withdrawal agreement between the UK and the EU.

What's new?

On 20 March 2019, the Luxembourg Minister of Finance submitted the new bill 7426 to the Luxembourg Parliament (the "Bill 7426"), in order to ensure the proper functioning and stability of the (Luxembourg) financial markets and the protection of UCIs' and SIFs' investors.

In particular, the Bill 7426 comprises the following 3 Articles:

• Article 1 would insert a new Article 186-6 in the UCI Law;
• This bill 7426 provides for a maximum period of 12 months for the relevant UCIs to regularise non-compliance with their investment rules (e.g. investment policy or investment restrictions) in relation to positions taken prior to the UK's withdrawal from the EU and only in relation to non-observations which are the direct result of this withdrawal; and
• The Bill 7426 provides for transitional provisions (during a maximum period of 12 months) for UK UCITS, which are currently marketed in Luxembourg to retail investors and which will qualify after withdrawal as 3rd-country AIFs.

• Article 2 would insert a new Article 76b in the SIF Law;
  • Similarly, SIFs would have to rectify any non-compliance with their investment rules (e.g. non-compliance with investment policy or with investment restrictions) resulting from the UK's withdrawal from the EU and only with respect to positions taken before the withdrawal date, at the latest at the expiry of a 12-month period after withdrawal.

• Article 3 foresees that the final legislation would apply from the date of the UK's withdrawal from the EU, in accordance with Article 50(3) on the Treaty on EU (available here).

For further information, the Bill 7426 is available here (only in French).

What's next?

The Bill 7426 should be referred to the parliamentary Finance and Budget Commission for further discussion.

Background

The regulation (EU) No 909/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on improving securities settlement in the EU and on central securities depositories ("CSDs") applies since 1 January 2015 ("CSDR", available here).

Pursuant to Article 9(1) of CSDR, 'settlement internalisers shall report to the competent authorities of their place of establishment on a quarterly basis the aggregated volume and value of all securities transactions that they settle outside securities settlement systems. Competent authorities shall, without delay, transmit the information received to the ESMA and shall inform the ESMA of any potential risk resulting from that settlement activity'.

Against this background, the internalised settlement reporting requirements are specified in the Commission delegated regulation (EU) 2017/391 of 11 November 2016 supplementing CSDR with regard to regulatory technical standards ("RTS") further specifying the content of the reporting on internalised settlement (the "Regulation 2017/391", available here). In addition, the template forms and procedures for this reporting and its transmission are addressed in the Commission implementing regulation EU 2017/393 of 11 November 2016 laying down implementing technical standards ("ITS") with regard to the templates and procedures for the reporting and its transmission of information on internalised settlements in accordance with CSDR (the "Regulation 2017/393", available here). Both the Regulation 2017/391 and the Regulation 2017/393 shall enter into force on 10 March 2019.

On 28 March 2018, the ESMA published its guidelines on internalised settlement reporting within its final report (ESMA70-151-1258 – the "Guidelines", available here), in order to clarify the scope and process of internalised settlement reporting. Besides, the ESMA has specified the format message for reporting internalised settlement information and has published related IT technical documentation on its website (available here). On 30 January 2019, the ESMA lastly updated its questions and answers' document concerning the implementation of CSDR (ESMA70-708036281-2 – the "Q&A", available here).

At Luxembourg level, the services and/or activities that an investment firm can perform are listed in the Annexes I and II to the law on the financial sector of 5 April 1993, as amended (the "LFS", available here).

What's new?

On 27 February 2019, the CSSF issued the circular 19/709 on the introduction of quarterly internalised settlement reporting requirements pursuant to Article 9(1) of CSDR (the "Circular 19/709"), which is addressed to the following entities:

In the Circular 19/709, the CSSF draws the attention of the Entities in Scope to the fact that the Regulation 2017/391 and the Regulation 2017/393 will enter into force as from 10 March 2019. In particular, the CSSF notes that such entities 'will need to submit to the CSSF one report for their activities in Luxembourg (including the activity of their branches in Luxembourg), separate reports for the activity of their branches per EU Member State, and one report for the activity of their branches in third countries, in accordance with the Point 17 of the Guidelines".

Besides, the Annex to the Circular 19/709 specifies the following 6 aspects of the reporting XML file which shall be sent to the CSSF via the transmission channels E-File or SOFiE:

1. File naming convention;
2. ZIP File;
3. Re-submission of report;
4. Cancellation of report;
5. Feedback files; and
6. 'Overall Total' cells of the internalised settlement reporting template.

The Circular 19/709 is available here.

What's next?

On 12 July 2019 at the latest, the Entities in Scope should send their first internalised settlement reporting to the CSSF via the transmission channels E-File or SOFiE.

The next reports will then have to be sent to CSSF on a quarterly basis via the transmission channels E-File or SOFiE within 10 working days from the end quarter of a calendar year.

Background

In accordance with Article 24 of the amended Law of 23 December 1998 establishing a financial sector supervisory commission (the "1998 Law", available here), a Grand-ducal regulation shall determine the amount of fees that can be levied by the CSSF.

Against this background, the Grand-ducal regulation of 21 December 2017 on the fees to be levied by the CSSF applies since 1 January 2018 (the "2017 Regulation", available here only in French). The 2017 was subsequently amended by the Grand-ducal regulation of 2 July 2018, which entered into force on 8 July 2018 (the "2018 Regulation", available here only in French).

For ease of reading, the latest consolidated version of the 2017 Regulation, as amended, is available here.

What's new?

On 5 March 2019, the Grand-ducal regulation of 1 March 2019 amending the 2017 Regulation, as amended, was published in the Luxembourg Memorial A N° 110 (the "2019 Regulation"). The 2019 Regulation amends the 2017 Regulation mostly in relation to the following EU legislation:

• Regulation (EU) 2015/760 of 29 April 2015 on European long-term investment funds (available here);
• Regulation (EU) No 909/2014 of 23 July 2014 on improving securities settlement in the European Union and on central securities depositories (available here);
• Regulation (EU) No 345/2013 on European venture capital funds (available here);
• Regulation (EU) No 346/2013 on European social entrepreneurship funds (available here); and
• Directive 2011/61/EU on Alternative Investment Fund Managers (available here).

Noteworthy are (i) the deletion of the sentence 'for umbrella SICARs and SICAR-AIFs, the annual lump sum is set at EUR 8,000 irrespective of the number of sub-funds authorised by the CSSF' in the (old) Article 1 C I.3 (7) of the Regulation 2017, and (ii) the introduction of a lump sum of EUR 10,000 for each CSSF on-site inspection conducted on a specific topic in the new Article 1 C III (for UCIs) of the Regulation 2017, as amended.

The 2019 Regulation is available here (only in French).

What's next?

The 2019 Regulation entered into force on 9 March 2019.

The CSSF should publish the English/French consolidated version of the 2017 Regulation taking into account the 2019 Regulation on its website shortly.

Background

The new Swiss Financial Services Act (FinSA) and Financial Institutions Act (FinIA) were enacted by the Swiss Parliament in June 2018, and are currently expected to enter into effect on 1 January 2020. The consultation period for the drafts of the implementing ordinances to the FinSA and FinIA ended at the beginning of February this year. The new regulatory framework has created a substantial change in the funds distribution activity.

In fact, the introduction of the concept of “offer” according to Art. 3 let. G FinSA as a replacement of the current notion of “distribution” pursuant to Art. 3 of the Collective Investment Schemes Act of 2006 (CISA) will lead to a number of consequences for the Swiss financial industry as well as for foreign financial services providers acting on a cross-border basis into Switzerland.

What's new?

Today the provisions governing the management and distribution of collective investment schemes are primarily governed by CISA and its implementing ordinances, FINMA Circulars and SFAMA self-regulation. With the FinSA and the FinLA, the current regulatory framework will be transformed into a horizontal structure. This means that the new legislation will introduce uniformed cross-sector regulations for the provision of financial services and the offering of financial instruments.

The new regime will be based on the "offering" of foreign collective investment schemes: a term which is defined more narrowly than “distribution”. The FinSA defines an offer as any invitation to acquire a financial instrument that contains sufficient information on the conditions of the offering and the terms of the financial instrument. Under the new regime, any “offer” will trigger the application of the Swiss rules on the offering of foreign collective investment schemes in Switzerland. This change of paradigm carries the following consequences:

• The obligation currently provided for by CISA to obtain an authorization as distributor of collective investment schemes will be replaced by the obligation for client advisors to register with the Client Advisors Register. The paradigm-shift is to the general concept of point-of-sale regulation as known in many countries including the European Union, instead of the Swiss concept of the regulation of distribution activities.
• On the level of the product, an offer of collective investment schemes will trigger the obligation to register the funds with the Swiss Financial Markets Supervisory Authority - FINMA, but only where such offer is made to non-qualified investors (retail investors, i.e. investors which are not defined as Qualified Investors pursuant to article 10 § 3 of the CISA).
• Moreover, with regard to foreign funds, the obligation to appoint a Swiss representative and a paying agent will be limited to non-qualified investors as well as to so-called opt-in qualified investors.
• Finally, an offer to per se qualified investors will no longer require the appointment of a Swiss representative and paying agent, as this does not constitute a distribution anymore.

What's next?

The publication of the final versions of the implementing ordinances to the FinSA and FinIA is expected by Q3 2019. Both the laws and the ordinances will enter into force on 1 January 2020.

It is currently still unclear whether or not FINMA will additionally publish its ordinances (FinSO-FINMA and FinIO-FINMA). These would be expected to contain more supervision-oriented provisions and shall be discussed within the next few months. It also remains to be seen how the Swiss Funds and Asset Management Association SFAMA will adapt its body of self-regulation. What is clear, however, is that all self-regulation referring to distribution will become obsolete or fundamentally be revised under the new system.

Transitional periods

With the entry into force of the laws, certain transitional provisions will apply. In particular, with regard to the offer of financial instruments, client advisors (including among others the distributors of collective investment schemes) will have six months to comply with the requirement of appropriate qualifications, knowledge and experience and apply for the advisor registry, while all financial service providers will have six months to affiliate themselves with an ombudsman’s office (Art. 95 FinSA).

Moreover, since SFAMA’s self-regulation is expected to enter into force by 1 July 2020, there will be a six month period where the new regulatory framework will coexist with the obsolete self-regulation concerning distribution activities, creating an uncertain environment.  

*Art. 3 lit. g FinSA: “An offer is any invitation for the acquisition of a financial instrument that contains sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the financial instrument itself”. 

**Art. 3 CISA : “The distribution of collective investment schemes pursuant to this Act is defined as any offering of and advertising for collective investment schemes that is not exclusively directed at investors as defined in Article 10 paragraph 3 letters a and b.” (so-called Qualified Investors). 

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