Compliance Guidelines and Recommendations of the European Supervisory Authorities

The European Supervisory Authorities – the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) – are authorised to issue guidelines and recommendations to competent authorities or financial institutions.

The aim of these guidelines and recommendations is to promote the consistency, efficiency and effectiveness of supervisory practices and to ensure that Union law is applied in a common, uniform and consistent manner.

Within two months of a guideline or recommendation being issued, each competent authority must state whether it complies with it or intends to do so. If a competent authority does not or does not intend to comply with a guideline or recommendation – in most cases because compliance is prevented by national law – it informs the relevant ESA of this, stating its reasons. This is referred to as the “comply or explain” procedure.

De Nederlandsche Bank is responsible for supervising compliance with these rules for financial institutions in the Netherlands.

The overview below lists the guidelines and recommendations with which DNB complies, unless explicitly specified otherwise.

For each guideline or recommendation, the overview provides details on its basis in the relevant underlying European Directive or Regulation, its basis in Dutch legislation and its effective date.

Where competent authorities have indicated their compliance with a guideline or recommendation, they and the financial institutions to which the guideline or recommendation is addressed must make every effort to comply¹.

• The full texts of the EBA guidelines and recommendations can be consulted on the Compliance with EBA regulatory products webpage. See also the EBA Single Rulebook.
  
  
• The EIOPA Guidelines can be consulted on the EIOPA Guidelines webpage. See also the Solvency II Single Rulebook.
  
  
• The Joint Committee Guidelines can be consulted on the Joint Committee Guidelines webpage.
  
  
• Finally, the ESMA Guidelines can be consulted on the ESMA's Guidelines and Technical Standards webpage.

Note: This overview will be updated frequently, but it is possible that the latest version is not entirely up to date yet. The date on the document indicates when it was last updated.

[1] This is laid down in Article 16(3) of the founding regulations of the ESAs – (EU) No 1093/2010 (EBA), (EU) No 1094/2010 (EIOPA) and (EU) No 1095/2010 (ESMA) – and confirmed by the European Court of Justice in its judgement of 15 July 2021 on a dispute between the Fédération bancaire française and the Autorité de contrôle et de résolution — ECLI:EU:C:2021:599. The Court confirmed not only that, although EBA guidelines are not binding, supervisory authorities and financial institutions must do their utmost to comply with them (paragraphs 43 and 48), but also that national courts are expected to consider EBA guidelines when resolving cases (paragraph 71 of the judgement).