Equivalence Decisions
Dear European Banking Authority,
Under the right of access to documents in the EU treaties, as set forth by Regulation 1049/2001, I am requesting documents which contain the following information regarding all the equivalence decisions rendered by the European Commission and/or European Parliament within the European Banking Authority’s remit:
- all technical reports and/or documents prepared by the European Banking Authority and issued to support the decisions taken by the European Commission and/or European Parliament;
- all documents related to the equivalence decisions in which the European Banking Authority has provided assistance, including minutes of meetings held by the ESFS regulators, the European Commission, and/or the European Parliament;
- the timeframes comprising the receipt of requests for technical analysis and the issuance of the respective technical reports to support the aforementioned decisions taken by the European Commission and/or European Parliament; and
- all correspondence and other kinds of communication, including attachments (such as emails, letters, and/or telephone call notes), between the regulators (including overseas regulators of the third countries for which the equivalence decisions were rendered), other organizations, and the European Commission/European Parliament with respect to the aforementioned equivalence decisions.
The aim is to better understand how the ESFS regulators have engaged with equivalence decisions; the procedural steps that have been taken prior to an equivalence decision being rendered; and, the time each step in the process to reach a decision takes.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any doubts or questions in regards to this request.
Thank you in advance.
Best regards,
Pedro Carvalho
EBA Regular Use
Dear Mr Carvalho,
Thank you for your communication of 21 February 2022, which we acknowledge receipt of. We will be reverting to you within due course.
Kind regards,
Legal and Compliance Unit
EBA Regular Use
Dear Mr Carvalho,
We refer to your communications dated 21 February 2022 in which you make two requests for access to documents pursuant to Regulation 1049/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 30 May 2001 regarding public access to European Parliament, Council and Commission documents. The European Banking Authority ('EBA') strives to be transparent and open to as great an extent as possible.
As a preliminary point, we would ask you for sending us a copy of your national identity document in order to verify your eligibility to submit an access to documents request, in accordance with Art. 2(1) of Regulation 1049/2001.
As regards your request for access to a number of documents related to the withdrawal of equivalence decisions rendered by the European Commission and/or European Parliament within the EBA'S remit equivalence decision, please note that no such equivalence decision has been withdrawn and accordingly we do not hold any such documents.
In relation to your request for access to a number of documents related to all the equivalence decisions rendered by the European Commission and/or European Parliament within the EBA's remit, we note that your request appears to be of significantly broad scope, it pertains to a very large number of documents, it covers a significant time span. Therefore, we would like to notify of the extension of the time-limit for providing you with a response by another 15 working days in accordance with Article 7(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001.
Given the broad scope of you request and considering that you expressed interest in understanding better "how the ESFS regulators have engaged with equivalence decisions; the procedural steps that have been taken prior to an equivalence decision being rendered; and, the time each step in the process to reach a decision takes", we would like to confer with you with a view to finding a fair solution, pursuant to Article 6(3) of Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001. More in particular, we suggest the following:
- EBA will assist you in identifying documents that are already publicly available and it will provide you with relevant links within 5 working days following receipt of your response to this communication;
- EBA will organise a conference call where you will be provided with further information about the procedural steps of, and timeline for, equivalence decisions. In this regard, we would kindly invite you to send us a detailed list of questions that you would like to pose. After the call, we will provide you with a written response in relation to each question.
We would be grateful if you could let us know whether you accept this proposal for a fair solution by 18 March 2022.
Finally, please also note that pending your response the deadline to get back to you in relation to the content of your request will be put on hold.
Your faithfully,
EBA Legal and Compliance Unit
Dear EBA Legal and Compliance Unit Team,
Thank you very much for your reply and time.
I'm happy with the proposed fair solution. However, I'd ask you to entertain one small change: if there's the possibility of providing one sample of a 'bundle' of documents related to a single equivalence decision and that, in your view, is representative of the scope of the original request (how your institution has engaged with equivalence decisions; the procedural steps that have been taken prior to/in support of an equivalence decision being rendered; and, the time each step in the process to reach a decision took) that would be very much appreciated (and hopefully reduces the scope of the request enough).
I'm also happy to send a copy of my national identity document. Could you kindly indicate to which e-mail I should submit such document?
Yours sincerely,
Pedro Carvalho
EBA Regular Use
Dear Mr Carvalho,
Thanks for your reply.
As regards the copy of your national identity document, you may send it directly at the functional mailbox [email address].
We will revert to you in relation to the content of your request and to your proposal in a separate communication.
Yours faithfully,
EBA Legal and Compliance Unit
Dear EBA -AtD,
Thank you very much for your reply. I'm afraid the e-mail is getting redacted in the AsktheEU post. Could I confirm that the address is AtD[at]eba[dot]europa[dot]eu?
Yours sincerely,
Pedro
EBA Regular Use
Dear Mr Carvalho,
Thanks, we confirm that the functional mailbox is AtD[at]eba[dot]europa[dot]eu.
Kind regards,
EBA Legal and Compliance Unit
EBA Regular Use
Dear Mr Carvalho
Many thanks for your response and engagement in this process for a fair
solution.
We would be pleased to have a call with you to put in place a fair
solution either this Thursday from 12 to 13.00, Friday from 15.00 to
16.00, or Monday next week from 16.00 to 17.00 (Paris time). We can do the
call by Teams or Webex if either works for you, and if those times don’t
suit please let us know and we will find another slot that works – that
can be next week or the following week if there is no suitable time before
then. We would send you a link to connect to the call by separate email to
your personal address.
We take good note of your interest in understanding better "how the ESFS
regulators have engaged with equivalence decisions; the procedural steps
that have been taken prior to an equivalence decision being rendered; and,
the time each step in the process to reach a decision takes" and placing
the focus on a single equivalence decision that is representative of the
scope of the original request, and we bear in mind particularly the
process/procedural aspects and the timing aspects that are of interest to
you.
Accordingly, we share with you in advance of the call the following
documentation which directs you to what we consider to be a suitable
representative decision in the case of the EBA, namely the equivalence
decision relating to South Korea (which you will see ultimately was
covered in certain documentation together with the equivalence decision
relating to Serbia). This publicly available documentation is extensive
in its scope and provides broad insight into the processes followed in
similar equivalence cases. We would be able on our call to provide further
insights into the process and timing considerations in relation to this
decision to a substantial extent and trust that we can provide a fair
solution in this way. Here is the documentation we refer to:
Documentation concerning process amongst other matters:
• Minutes of the BoS 23-24 October 2018 (Agenda item 4: work on
equivalence):
[1]https://www.eba.europa.eu/sites/default/...
• EU Commission on Implementing Decision on Serbia and South Korea
(COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2019/2166 of 16 December 2019):
[2]https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
• Publication of EBA Opinion (23 January 2020):
[3]https://www.eba.europa.eu/eba-acknowledg...
• Opinion on Serbia and South Korea (23 January 2020):
[4]https://www.eba.europa.eu/sites/default/...
• Technical annex on South Korea (23 January 2020):
[5]https://www.eba.europa.eu/sites/default/...
Documentation concerning methodology
• Webpage on methodology (21 February 2022):
[6]https://www.eba.europa.eu/eba-updates-me...
• 1^st step questionnaire:
[7]https://www.eba.europa.eu/sites/default/...
• 2^nd step questionnaire:
[8]https://www.eba.europa.eu/sites/default/...
To facilitate putting in place a fair solution on our call, we invite you
in advance to forward to us specific questions which you would like to
discuss on the call and we will endeavour to address them then.
Finally, kindly note that until the call has been held, the deadline for
formally responding to this request will be put on hold.
Yours sincerely
EBA Legal and Compliance Unit
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References
Visible links
1. https://www.eba.europa.eu/sites/default/...
2. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/...
3. https://www.eba.europa.eu/eba-acknowledg...
4. https://www.eba.europa.eu/sites/default/...
5. https://www.eba.europa.eu/sites/default/...
6. https://www.eba.europa.eu/eba-updates-me...
7. https://www.eba.europa.eu/sites/default/...
8. https://www.eba.europa.eu/sites/default/...
Dear EBA AtD team,
Firstly, let me apologise for the delay in responding. A family emergency occurred and I'm afraid I was unable to respond sooner. I'm very sorry for that.
Thank you very much for providing the bundle and the suggested date. Would you by any chance be available at some point on the week starting April 18th or April 25th? I'm happy to provide the list of questions as a reference ahead of the call. Is there a preferred e-mail I should send it to?
Regarding the invite, it could be sent to ps785 [at] cam [dot] ac [dot] uk. Either Webex or Teams would work fine for me.
Once again, thank you very much for your time.
Best regards,
Pedro