Regulatory and implementing technical standards (RTS, ITS)

The major European financial regulation texts set principles and refer their detailed implementation to technical standards. Regulatory technical standards, adopted by the Commission as delegated acts, specify the content of obligations: calculation methods, classification criteria, elements of a policy. Implementing technical standards, adopted as implementing acts, set uniform conditions of application: reporting templates, formats, procedures, deadlines. In both cases the draft is prepared by the competent European supervisory authority, for insurance EIOPA, often jointly with the banking and markets authorities, after public consultation, then adopted by the Commission, which may depart from it only under defined conditions. These texts are directly applicable and bind companies just like the base regulation. They are the most operational level of the European regulatory architecture, and that is often where a rule's real scope is decided. For an insurer, complying with DORA or Solvency II in practice means complying with dozens of technical standards, whose publication sets the pace of compliance projects.