EU EMIR: ESMA consults on Article 7d reporting requirements 

What has happened?

On 18 August 2026, ESMA launched a consultation seeking industry feedback on draft technical standards prescribing the content and format of the new Article 7d EU EMIR¹ annual reporting requirement introduced by EMIR 3².

The new obligation requires in-scope clearing members and their clients to report annually on the products they clear through EU-recognised third-country CCPs (TC CCPs). At the date of this briefing, this includes (amongst others) LCH Limited, ICE Clear Europe Limited, and LME Clear Limited.

The consultation closes on 12 October 2026 and ESMA intends to submit final technical standards to the European Commission later this year.

Key points

• Article 7d reporting has a broader scope than most EU EMIR provisions. It covers cleared securities financing transactions, securities and certain non-financial instruments (in practice, spot contracts and crypto-assets), as well as derivatives.
• The level 1 obligation applies to the clearing activity of EU clearing members and their direct clients. It also captures the clearing activity of non-EU entities, as EU parents must report at group level on behalf of all EU and non-EU subsidiaries. Indirect clients are not in scope.
• The draft technical standards tailor the reporting requirements to the different types of reporting entity, depending on the nature of their clearing activities.
• ESMA conducted an extensive gap analysis to make sure that in-scope entities are not required to report information that is already available to EU supervisors through other reporting channels.
• The consultation proposes that reports should be submitted by the last business day of January each year, in respect of the preceding calendar year.
• Proposed transitional provisions would defer the first report until January 2028 at the earliest, with the first report covering 2025, 2026 and 2027.

Background

EMIR 3 entered into force in December 2024 and introduced the Active Account Requirement, a new obligation designed to ensure that in-scope EU entities clear a proportion of their OTC derivatives transactions through EU CCPs.

As a complementary measure, EMIR 3 also introduced a new reporting obligation under Article 7d, which requires in-scope entities to report annually on their TC CCP clearing activity.

EU EMIR sets out, at a high level, the information that in-scope entities are required to report:

"(a) the type of financial instruments or non-financial instruments cleared;

(b) the average values cleared over one year per Union currency and per asset class;

(c) the amount of margins collected;

(d) the default fund contributions; and

(e) the largest payment obligation."

ESMA's consultation is seeking market input on supplementary technical standards specifying the scope and content of the Article 7d reports.

ESMA was originally tasked with preparing draft technical standards by December 2025, but this was postponed as part of a wider prioritisation exercise. In the interim, ESMA published a public statement in December 2025, confirming that the first report is not due until the necessary technical standards have been implemented.

Entity scope

The new reporting obligation applies to the clearing activity of (i) EU clearing members of TC CCPs and (ii) their EU clients. It also applies to the clearing activity of non-EU entities within an EU-consolidated group, with the EU parent responsible for reporting on a consolidated basis for all its subsidiaries.

"Client" in this context is defined as "an undertaking with a contractual relationship with a clearing member of a CCP which enables that undertaking to clear its transactions with that CCP".

Indirect clients (i.e. clients of clearing member clients) are not in scope.

Consolidated group reporting

The level 1 EU EMIR text requires EU parents of EU-consolidated groups to report the group's TC CCP clearing activity on a consolidated basis, including that of non-EU group members.

The draft technical standards propose that this information should be submitted in one single report, distinguishing between clearing activity undertaken by EU and non-EU group entities. The reporting entity would therefore need to provide different information for EU and non-EU subsidiaries, as additional reporting on initial margin is required in respect of non-EU entities. The consultation also requests feedback as to whether reporting on variation margin as well would provide meaningful insight.

The table below sets out the information required for each type of entity.

Broad product scope

Unlike most EU EMIR provisions, the new reporting obligation extends beyond derivatives to the broader category of "financial instruments [and] non‑financial instruments". This encompasses cleared securities financing transactions (SFTs), securities and "non-financial instruments".

In practice, "non-financial instruments" are limited to spot contracts and crypto-assets (other than derivatives), as these are the only non-financial instruments in respect of which TC CCPs have been recognised to provide clearing services.

The draft technical standards propose that the following should be subject to the new reporting requirement where they are cleared through a TC CCP:

• securities;
• OTC derivatives;
• exchange-traded derivatives;
• SFTs;
• spot contracts; and
• crypto-assets.

Duplication and gap analysis

ESMA was required to take into account existing reporting channels when developing the draft technical standards, and to avoid duplicative reporting. It therefore conducted an extensive gap analysis to identify information that is already available to EU supervisors through other reporting regimes, including Article 9 of EU EMIR and the EU Securities Financing Transactions Regulation³.

As a result, the new reporting obligation will vary depending on the type of reporting entity, the clearing arrangement and the instruments cleared.

Article 7d(1) also mandates reporting on default fund contributions and the largest payment obligation. In practice these are only relevant at clearing member level, and ESMA’s gap analysis found that this information may be obtained from the annual data request to Tier 1 TC CCPs, so the draft standards do not introduce additional reporting for these items (hence they are not included in the table above).

Report timing and transitional provisions

The reporting obligation is annual, with the draft technical standards proposing a deadline of the last business day of January each year for reporting in respect of the preceding calendar year.

Proposed transitional provisions would provide that the first report date must be at least six months after the standards enter into force. Consequently, if the standards were to enter into force before 31 July 2027, the first report would be due by the end of January 2028. If not, it would be due by the end of January 2029. In any event, under ESMA's proposals the first report would need to cover all calendar years from 2025 up to the report date.

Next steps

The consultation closes on 12 October 2026. ESMA is expected to submit the final technical standards for endorsement by the European Commission later this year.

Other author and key contact: Kirsty McAllister-Jones, Expertise Counsel