On January 31, 2017, the European Commission published a speech by Valdis Dombrovskis, Commission Vice President, on finance for growth in manufacturing.

The speech included the Commission’s recent review of EMIR, the outcome of which the European Commission reported on in November 2016.

Mr. Dombrovskis commented that, during the review process, the European Commission received substantial feedback on the rules governing derivatives. Several respondents, including regulators and industry participants, argued that there is scope to make the rules and reporting obligations in this area more proportionate, particularly for non-financial counterparties.

The European Commission agrees with this feedback and intends to address some of the issues by revising existing technical standards to make reporting standards simpler and clearer. It will publish its legislative proposal to revise EMIR in spring 2017.