Article 6
Registration fee
1.
The amount of the registration fee to be paid by individual credit rating agencies applying for registration shall be proportionate to the complexity of the application and the size of the credit rating agency as specified in paragraphs 2 to 5.
2.
For the purposes of calculating the amount of the registration fee, the following criteria shall be taken into consideration:
(a)
whether a credit rating agency intends to issue ratings for structured finance instruments;
(b)
whether a credit rating agency has a branch in another Member State or in a third country;
(c)
whether a credit rating agency intends to endorse ratings.
3.
Where none of the criteria set out in paragraph 2 apply, the registration fees shall be calculated according to the number of employees, as follows:
(a)
credit rating agencies with fewer than 15 employees shall pay EUR 2 000 ;
(b)
credit rating agencies with 15 to 49 employees shall pay EUR 15 000 ;
(c)
credit rating agencies with at least 50 employees shall pay EUR 40 000 .
4.
Credit rating agencies that only meet one of the criteria set out in paragraph 2 shall pay the following registration fees according to the number of their employees, as follows:
(a)
credit rating agencies with fewer than 15 employees shall pay EUR 10 000 ;
(b)
credit rating agencies with 15 to 49 employees shall pay EUR 40 000 ;
(c)
credit rating agencies with at least 50 employees shall pay EUR 100 000 .
5.
Credit rating agencies that meet at least two of the criteria set out in paragraph 2 shall pay the following registration fees according to the number of their employees, as follows:
(a)
credit rating agencies with fewer than 15 employees shall pay EUR 30 000 ;
(b)
credit rating agencies with 15 to 49 employees shall pay EUR 85 000 ;
(c)
credit rating agencies with at least 50 employees shall pay EUR 125 000 .
6.
The registration fee shall be payable in full at the time the credit rating agency applies for registration.
7.
ESMA shall not reimburse a paid registration fee where a credit rating agency withdraws its application for registration before ESMA has adopted the reasoned decision to register or refuse registration.
8.
Coefficient = By way of derogation from Article 5, a registered credit rating agency that is required to pay an annual supervisory fee in accordance with Article 5(1) shall pay in the year of its registration an initial supervisory fee which is calculated as follows:
registered credit rating agency first-year fee = registration fee * coefficient
Credit rating agencies shall pay the supervisory fee of the first year after they have been notified by ESMA that their registration is successful and within 30 calendar days from the date of issuance of ESMA’s debit note.
However, where a credit rating agency is registered during the month of December, that credit rating agency shall not be required to pay an annual supervisory fee for the year in which it was registered.