European Union: The CRA Regulation and private credit ratings

The CRA Regulation does not apply to "private credit ratings produced pursuant to an individual order and provided exclusively to the person who placed the order and which are not intended for public disclosure or distribution by subscription" (article 2(2)). 

Guidelines published in 2013 (here, pdf) noted that there were some circumstances in which a private rating could be shared with a limited number of third parties on a strictly confidential basis. Uncertainty, nevertheless, remained - but perhaps for not much longer because the European Securities and Markets Authority has published, for consultation, amendments to the Guidelines: see here (pdf). These focus on key elements in article 2(2) - including "produced pursuant to an individual order" and "provided exclusively to the person who placed the order" - as well as the 2013 Guidelines, in particular by defining "limited number of third parties" by reference to an upper limit of 150 natural persons.