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European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority
ConsultationClosed

Survey on product disclosure templates under the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation

Details

Status
Closed
Opening date
Deadline

Target audience

The European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs) welcome comments on this survey setting out the details of the presentation of the information to be disclosed pursuant to Article 8(3), Article 9(5) and Article 11(4) of the Regulation (EU) 2019/2088 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 November 2019 on sustainability‐related disclosures in the financial services (SFDR).

This information concerns pre-contractual and periodic disclosures to be included in existing disclosures provided for under EU sectoral legislation and provided by, for example, AIFMs, UCITS management companies, insurance undertakings, IORPs or PEPP providers.

The ESAs propose to standardise the disclosures by requiring the use of specific templates, recognising the need for standardisation of disclosures to promote comparability of different financial products in different Member States with respect to ESG information, in line with Recital 9 of the SFDR.

The colour of the font and of the template’s background, as well as type of font to be used are not prescribed in the templates. These should be adapted by the financial market participants to fit the formatting of the underlying document to which the templates are integrated (prospectus, annual report, pre-enrolment disclosure for prospective pension scheme members, etc). 

The final content of the templates is subject to the outcome of concurrent consumer testing exercise and the final report of the ESAs on the draft RTS under SFDR.

The consultation package includes: 

  • Three preliminary, illustrative mock-ups of pre-contractual and periodic disclosure templates of products promoting Environmental and/or Social (E/S) characteristics (under Article 8 and Article 11 of the SFDR). The templates for the disclosure of products with a sustainable investment objective (Article 9) are very similar to those for the products promoting E/S characteristics and have not been included in the on-line survey. N.B. These mock-ups are purely illustrative for the purposes of gathering feedback on the presentation of information. The pre-contractual mock-up is presented in two variations: with and without icons, to gather feedback on the use of the icons.
  • An on-line survey 

The ESAs particularly invite comments on presentational aspects of the mock-ups as the content of the mock-ups already reflects the current text of the draft RTS which were addressed in the recent public consultation on the on content, methodologies and presentation of disclosures under the SFDR that ran from 23 April until 1 September 2020.

Comments are most helpful if they: 

  • contain a clear rationale; and 
  • describe any alternatives the ESAs should consider. 

When describing alternative approaches, the ESAs encourage stakeholders to consider how the approach would achieve the key objectives of the SFDR regarding product disclosures, namely to prevent “greenwashing” and reduce information asymmetries for end investors.

Submission of responses

The consultation paper is available on the websites of the three ESAs and the Joint Committee. Comments must be sent using the EUsurvey by 16 October 2020. 

Contributions not provided in the EUsurvey tool for comments, or after the deadline will not be processed. 

Publication of responses

All contributions received will be published following the close of the consultation, unless you request otherwise in the respective field in the template for comments. A confidential response may be requested from us in accordance with ESAs rules on public access to documents. We may consult you if we receive such a request. Any decision we make not to disclose the response is reviewable by ESAs Board of Appeal and the European Ombudsman

Data protection

The protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the ESAs is based on Regulation (EU) 2018/17253. Further information on data protection can be found under the Legal notice section of the EBA website and under the Legal notice section of the EIOPA website and under the Legal notice section of the ESMA website.

Respond to the consultation

The response period for this consultation has ended. Thank you for your input.

Reference documents

Related documents

31 JANUARY 2023
Illustrative mock-ups templates SFDR.pdf
English
(1.35 MB - PDF)
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