In accordance with Article 16b) of the EBA founding Regulation, stakeholders can submit questions on the practical application or implementation of the provisions of legislative acts referred to in Article 1(2) of the EBA's founding Regulation, as well as the associated Delegated and Implementing acts, RTS, ITS, Guidelines and Recommendations, adopted under these legislative acts.
Questions on legislative acts referred to under Article 1 (2) of the EBA’s founding Regulation or within the scope of the EBA’s powers that are not listed here can be submitted choosing the ‘Other’ option in the ‘Legal Act’ field of the ‘Submit a question’ page.
Important note to users:
The questions submitted should focus on provisions that are already applicable. For questions on issues whose application date lies in the future, the EBA may defer the processing of the questions to a later stage. The processing of questions and the response time may also depend on the overall number of questions that will be received on the amended texts.
The Q&A process entails close and ongoing interaction between the EBA, the European Commission and Competent Authorities to ensure that the responses to the questions submitted remain consistent with the European legislative texts.
Any natural or legal person, including competent authorities and Union institutions and bodies can use the Single Rulebook Q&A tool for submitting questions on the legislative acts referred to in Article 1(2) of the EBA’s founding Regulation and their associated Delegated and Implementing Acts, RTS, ITS, Guidelines, or Recommendations.
Questions should relate to the practical application or implementation of provisions of the relevant Legal Act and/or associated Delegated or Implementing Acts, RTS, ITS, Guidelines, or Recommendations. They should be as short and concise as possible. Legal provisions can be included provided they are short, otherwise the use of references is preferable. Hypothetical (what if) questions should best be avoided. Questions that require the interpretation of these legal instruments will be forwarded to the European Commission who will prepare answers.
Article 16(b)(2) of the EBA’s founding Regulation states that Answers to Q&As have no binding force in law. Further, Q&As are not subject to "comply or explain". However, their application is scrutinised and challenged by the EBA and national supervisory authorities given their practical significance to achieve a level-playing field. Peer pressure and market discipline are also expected to play a driving force in ensuring adherence to and compliance with the answers provided in the Q&A process.
Final answers will be published on Fridays between 1pm and 2pm Central European Time (CET) - adjusted for summer time as appropriate - except if this coincides with an EBA public holiday. In this instance, answers will be published on the preceding working day.
IMPORTANT: Please note that the EBA only starts accepting questions on the application and implementation of Delegated or Implementing Acts, RTS, or ITS related to the legislative acts referred to in Article 1(2) of the EBA’s founding Regulation once these are published on the Official Journal of the European Union. An exception is made with respect to certain draft Implementing Technical Standards on Supervisory Reporting, as the EBA needs to address these on a timely basis in order to allow institutions to make the necessary preparations or changes to their reporting systems. The EBA may publish provisional answers to questions; however, it is important to note that these should not be considered final until the Implementing Technical Standards on Supervisory Reporting they refer to are endorsed by the European Commission and published in the Official Journal of the European Union.
Before posting a question, users should read the revised Additional background and guidance for asking questions.
Users should take a note of the following points in particular (some of which reflect changes stemming from the EBA founding Regulation):
A compilation (in pdf format) of all final Q&As, or subsets, can be obtained via the 'Search for Q&As' function. For additional information, please refer to point 19 of the Additional background and guidance for asking questions