The European Banking Authority (EBA) published the final draft Regulatory Technical Standards (RTS) that set out the requirements, templates, and procedures for handling complaints received by issuers of asset reference tokens (ARTs).
The draft RTS fulfilled a mandate conferred “on the EBA in the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCAR) and were developed in close cooperation with the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA).”
The draft RTS set out requirements related “to the complaints management policy and function, the provision of information to holders of ARTs and other interested parties, templates, recordings, languages, the procedure to investigate complaints and to communicate the outcome of the investigations to complainants, and specific provisions for complaints handling involving third-party entities.”
The draft RTS were subject to “a public consultation between 12 July 2023 and 12 October 2023. Respondents showed general support for the approach proposed by the EBA, which they considered to be appropriately balanced.”
However, some respondents “expressed their preference for a more uniform approach between the EBA’s RTS and the equivalent RTS by ESMA on complaints handling for crypto asset service providers.”
Having assessed the responses, the EBA decided “to make a small number of targeted amendments with the aim to provide greater clarity and to further align with ESMA, in relation to requirements on languages, data protection and procedure for submitting an electronic complaint.”
Legal basis and background
The mandate for these draft RTS is set out “in Article 31 (5) of MiCAR, which provides that the EBA shall develop, in close cooperation with ESMA, draft RTS to further specify the requirements, templates and procedures for handling complaints. The RTS shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.”
As covered, the European Banking Authority (EBA) is “an independent EU Authority which works to ensure effective and consistent prudential regulation and supervision across the European banking sector. Its overall objectives are to maintain financial stability in the EU and to safeguard the integrity, efficiency and orderly functioning of the banking sector.”
The main task of the EBA is to “contribute to the creation of the European Single Rulebook in banking whose objective is to provide a single set of harmonised prudential rules for financial institutions throughout the EU.”
The Authority also plays an important role “in promoting convergence of supervisory practices and is mandated to assess risks and vulnerabilities in the EU banking sector.”
The EBA was established “on 1 January 2011 as part of the European System of Financial Supervision (ESFS) and took over all existing responsibilities and tasks of the Committee of European Banking Supervisors.”
