Article 51(5) of the BMR provides that, unless the Commission has adopted an equivalence decision in relation to a particular third country, a third country administrator has been recognised or a third country benchmark has been endorsed, EU supervised entities may only use a third country benchmark in financial instruments, financial contracts and measurements of the performance of an investment fund that already reference the relevant benchmark prior to 31 December 2021.

As a result, as the text of the BMR currently stands, EU supervised entities will no longer be able to reference third country benchmarks in new financial instruments, financial contracts or measurements of the performance of an investment fund on or after 1 January 2022, unless an equivalence decision is adopted regarding the relevant third country, or the administrator or benchmark otherwise appears on ESMA's register. However, in its adopted General Approach1 regarding a proposal for a Regulation amending
the BMR, the Council proposed an amendment to Article 51 which would extend this transitional period until 31 December 2025.

We strongly support this proposed amendment for the reasons discussed further below.