On March 23, 2016, the Council of the EU published an approved final compromise text of a proposed Regulation extending the Capital Requirements Regulation (Regulation 575/2013) (CRR) to extend certain exemptions for commodity dealers.

Under the CRR commodity dealers are exempt from large exposure and own funds requirements until December 31, 2017, the Council has agreed to extend these exemptions until December 31, 2020. The measure is designed to protect commodity dealers from an unstable regulatory environment in the short term. The Council considered that the application of large exposure and own funds requirements to commodity dealers should come as the result of a thoroughly reasoned decision rather than as a result of a lapsed exemption.

The proposed regulation now requires approval from the European Parliament and adoption by the Council. The Council Presidency confirmed with member states that they will support the extension, which was approved by the Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs (ECON) on March 7, 2016. Press release.