Page Contents
Domestic
European
Related areas
Irish implementing legislation under DORA published
On 17 January 2025, the European Union (Digital Operational Resilience) Regulations 2025 (the Regulations) were signed into law and published in Iris Oifigiúil on 24 January 2025. The Regulations give effect to the Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) in Ireland. Under DORA, Member States were required to publish national implementing measures by 17 January 2025.
CBI publishes guide to submitting DORA major ICT-related incident and significant cyber threat reports on the CBI portal
On 16 January 2025, the Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) published a guide regarding submitting major ICT-related incident and significant cyber threat reports on the CBI portal under DORA.
The CBI advise that the major ICT-related incident reporting template and significant cyber threat reporting template are to be used by in scope financial entities when submitting a major ICT-related incident and significant cyber threat report respectively. The CBI also noted that the templates have been designed by the European Supervisory Authorities and that minor updates may be made to these in the coming months.
European Union (Requirements for Credit Transfers and Direct Debits in Euro) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 signed into law
On 8 January 2025, the European Union (Requirements for Credit Transfers and Direct Debits in Euro) (Amendment) Regulations 2025 (the Regulations) were signed into law and published in Iris Oifigiúil on 14 January 2025.
The Regulations amend the European Union (Requirements for Credit Transfers and Direct Debits in Euro) Regulations 2013 in order to give effect to the Instant Payments Regulation ((EU) 2024/886), which amends the SEPA Regulation (260/2012/EU). The Regulations empower the CBI to impose certain administrative sanctions in relation to breaches of Article 5d of the SEPA Regulation.
ESMA publishes opinion on RTS specifying certain requirements in relation to conflicts of interest for crypto-asset service providers under MiCAR
On 24 January 2025, the European Securities Market Authority (ESMA) published an opinion on regulatory technical standards (RTS) under the Markets in Crypto Assets Regulation (MiCAR). The RTS further specify the requirements for the policies and procedures to identify, prevent, manage and disclose conflicts of interest, as well as the details and methodology for the content of the disclosure by crypto-asset service providers of the general nature and sources of conflicts of interest and the steps taken to mitigate them.
By way of background, on 31 May 2024, ESMA published its final report on the draft RTS in this area and submitted it to the European Commission (EC) for adoption. On 29 November 2024, ESMA received a letter from the EC informing ESMA that it intends to adopt the RTS with amendments, which were included in an Annex to the letter. The EC letter referred to the possibility for ESMA to submit a new draft of the RTS reflecting the proposed amendments.
In this opinion with updated RTS, ESMA suggests a limited number of changes to the amendments proposed by the EC. In the draft RTS, ESMA acknowledges that an appropriate balance should be found between, on the one hand, the protection of investors and financial stability related objectives, and on the other hand, promoting safe and sustainable innovation. However, in view of the EC's comments, ESMA proposes striking that balance slightly differently from the EC.
The EC may now adopt the RTS with the amendments it considers relevant or reject it. The European Parliament and the Council may object to an RTS adopted by the EC within a period of three months.
ESMA and the EBA publish joint report on recent developments in crypto-assets
On 16 January 2025, ESMA and the European Banking Authority (EBA) published their joint report on recent developments in crypto-assets (Article 142 of MiCAR).
The report sets out an analysis on specific elements covered by Article 142 of MiCAR.
The first chapter of the report analyses the engagement of EU consumers and businesses with decentralised finance (DeFi) and noting the following:
The second chapter of the report analyses the business models used for lending, borrowing and staking of crypto-assets in the market. While the report finds that these services are offered by numerous crypto-asset service providers in EU jurisdictions; some of which also offer regulated crypto-asset services, insufficient information is often provided to users in relation to fees, interest rates paid or yields, collateral requirements, service provider actions, or rights and liabilities in events of dispute.
Finally, it identifies the risks associated with lending, borrowing and staking of crypto: excessive leverage, information asymmetries, money laundering and terrorist financing risks, systemic risks, procyclicality and interconnectedness.
Following consultation by the EC with the EBA and ESMA, Article 142 of MiCAR mandates that the EC submits a report on this to the European Parliament and Council.
For more information on these topics plpurport ease contact any member of A&L Goodbody's Financial Regulation Advisory team.
This publication provides an overview of certain legal and regulatory developments that may be of interest to certain entities. It does not purport to provide analysis of law or legal advice and is strictly for information purposes only.