The European Green Bond Regulation (EuGB) has been in force since 21 December 2024. The standard mandates the review of relevant green bonds – including public ABS – by an independent External Reviewer supervised by ESMA. An External Reviewer conducts a pre- and post-issuance review as well as a review of impact reports.(see also TSI kompakt of 30 March 2024).
Transitional list of External Reviewers published
On 4 April 2025, ESMA published a list of 24 companies that are authorised to act as External Reviewers within the meaning of Articles 69 and 70 of the EuGB Regulation under a transitional regime until 21 June 2026.
Potential investors and issuers or originators in the EuGB market can use this list to find out which companies are authorised to perform the review function during the transitional period.
Final framework still pending
As the authorisation and registration procedure for External Reviewers to be carried out by ESMA has not yet been completed – this requires the final adoption of several regulatory technical standards (RTS) and implementing technical standards (ITS) – all companies currently listed only have provisional authorisation until June 2026.
Following further consultations, which were originally scheduled for the first quarter of 2025, ESMA will introduce the final authorisation and registration procedure.
Reference point for market participants
Until further notice, the current list of 24 provisionally authorised external auditors is the authoritative reference for all market participants on the supply and demand side in the EuGB market. We will provide further information on market as well as on regulatory framework for External Reviewers in due course.