GENEVA, Switzerland – The EU Council today adopted its position on two proposals that are part of the digital finance package: the ‘Regulation on Markets in Crypto Assets’ (MiCA) and the ‘Digital Operational Resilience Act’ (DORA). This agreement forms the Council’s negotiating mandate for trilogue negotiations with the European Parliament.
“Digital finance is an increasingly important part of Europe’s economic landscape. It is essential to create a stimulating environment for innovative businesses while mitigating the risks for investors and consumers. I think today’s agreement strikes the right balance between the latter. Both files are a priority for the Presidency and we now hope for a quick agreement with the European Parliament on these proposals.” ~ Andrej Šircelj, minister for finance of Slovenia.
The purpose of MiCA is to create a regulatory framework for the crypto-assets market that supports innovation and draws on the potential of crypto-assets in a way that preserves financial stability and protects investors.
DORA aims to create a regulatory framework on digital operational resilience whereby all firms ensure they can withstand all types of ICT-related disruptions and threats, in order to prevent and mitigate cyber threats.
Background and next steps
The Commission came forward with the digital finance package on 24 September 2020. The package contains a digital finance strategy, proposals on markets in crypto-assets (MiCA), digital operational resilience (DORA) and a proposal on distributed leverage technology (DLT). This package bridges a gap in existing EU legislation by ensuring that the current legal framework does not pose obstacles to the use of new digital financial instruments and, at the same time, ensures that such new technologies and products fall within the scope of financial regulation and operational risk management arrangements of firms active in the EU. Thus, the package aims to support innovation and the uptake of new financial technologies while providing for an appropriate level of consumer and investor protection.
The Council and European Parliament will now enter trilogue negotiations on the proposals. Once a provisional political agreement is found between their negotiators, both institutions will formally adopt the regulations.
