THE PARLIAMENT OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC

SENATE

7th term

594thRESOLUTION

OF THE SENATE

Delivered on the 24th session held on 3November 2010

on the Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 on credit rating agencies /Senate Press no. N 117/07/

The Senate

I.

A g r e e s

in general with the proposal for a regulation that introduces a system of centralized supervision of credit rating agencies by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), given above all the considerable mobility of services provided by credit rating agencies and their global impact on financial markets;

II.

  1. A cknowledges

that Articles 8a and 8b dealing with a potential conflict of interest between a rating agency and an issuer of a structured product can contribute to a higher level of transparency of the credit rating industry and to enhanced competition between individual rating agencies;

  1. W a r n s,

however, that submitting unsolicited ratings might lead credit rating agencies to systematic distortion of credit risk in favour of issuers of structured products, as they try to attract and gain issuers for future paid services;

  1. Po i nts out

to the inappropriate formulation of the provision that sets conditions for access of credit rating agencies to information on the website of the issuer of a structured product, according to which the ratio of the number of unsolicited ratings to the total number of requests for information must equal at least 10 %, given above all the fact that every issuance of a structured product has different parameters and that is why measuring on the basis of a simple addition of requests for information and of unsolicited ratings does not reflect the reality properly;

  1. F i n d s l a c k i n g

in the proposal a provision that would allow access to the relevant national authorities to the information provided according to Articles 8a and 8b on the website of issuers of structured products and credit rating agencies;

  1. E x p r e s s e s i ts concern

about an excessive increase in the powers of ESMA as regards requests for information, general investigations and on-site inspections contained in Articles 23a, 23b and 23c, and especially finds unfounded Article 23b(1) Point f), according to which ESMA has the right to “interview any person for the purpose of collecting information relating to the subject matter of an investigation”;

  1. I s o f t h e o p i n i o n

that the one-month transition time frame proposed in Article 40a that is intended for the implementation of all changes concerning the transfer of competences and duties from the relevant national authorities in Member States to ESMA is not sufficient and should be prolonged;

III.

  1. R e q u e st s

the government to inform the Senate about the way this position was taken into account and to provide the Senate with further information on the proceeding of negotiations;

  1. I n vi t e s

the government to pay due care during the negotiations in the Council to prevent an encroachment on the constitutional rights of natural persons in the context of point II./5 of this Resolution;

  1. A u t h o r i s e s

the President of the Senate to forward this resolution to the European Commission.

Přemysl Sobotka

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President of the Senate

Jana Juřenčáková

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Senate Verifier