From 21 December, prospectuses for securities qualifying as green bonds ("European Green Bonds") must be submitted for approval pursuant to the Prospectus Regulation. The Central Bank of Ireland (the "CBI") has updated its procedures and policies and is fully ready to receive the first European Green Bond submissions from the go-live date.
The Green Bond Regulation
As we have previously written, Regulation (EU) 2023/2631 on European Green Bonds (the "EUGB Regulation") entered into force on 20 December 2023 and will become effective on 21 December 2024.
Supervisory Authority
Where Ireland is designated as home Member State pursuant to Article 31 of the Prospectus Regulation, the supervisory authority will be the CBI.
The CBI will supervise:
- issuers of European Green Bonds as regards compliance with their obligations under EUGB Regulation Title II, Chapter 2, and Articles 18 and 19; and
- issuers using the common templates provided for in Article 21 as regards compliance with those templates.
Process
The CBI website provides a dedicated section on the EUGB Regulation and a dedicated email address: EUGB@centralbank.ie.
Issuers wishing to cater for the EUGB Regulation should submit their prospectuses to the Primary Markets Team in the Securities and Markets Supervision Directorate using the debt submission template. The dedicated email address given above should be copied in all prospectus submissions under the EUGB Regulation.
The CBI has also provided updated guidance on submissions. Page eight of the guidance introduces a change for issuers of securities with an ESG element that fall outside the scope of the EUGB Regulation and draws attention to those fields of the submission template which should be completed in such cases.
Conclusion
We wrote previously on Ireland's potential as a hub for EU Green Bonds. The CBI's embrace of its role and the process initiatives introduced are further positive developments.
We will continue to monitor progress.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
