Today, FIA and ISDA responded to ESMA's Consultation Paper on draft technical standards on the provision of investment services and activities in the Union by third-country firms under MiFID II and MiFIR. Overall, we acknowledge that it is important for ESMA to have access to up-to-date information from third-country firms. However, we made some recommendations in relation to the information required, where we feel the requirements are too onerous or where information is already accessible from other sources. We further point out that whilst ESMA will have increased responsibilities under the MiFIR third-country regime, they do not extend to direct supervision of third-country firms or assessing their compliance with obligations equivalent to those that would apply to EU investment firms and ESMA's powers to require information at the point of registration and on an annual basis should not be used to de facto carry out these tasks.
