Question 1.1.33

MP has concerns about reports in which one of his counterparties has changed ACER Code during the organization transition process.

Example:

There is a scenario in which there is a contract between party A and party B (ACER codes: ACER-A1 and ACER-B1 respectively) already reported, and at some point in time party A1 (as a result of organizational rebranding/division) receives a new ACER code (ACER-A2). How should such an event be reported to the Agency? In the form of a modification to the original contract or maybe a cancellation of the original one followed by reporting a new contract?

Answer

In the Agency’s view, the change of the ACER code is a case of novation. As stated in Question 1.1.26 in the FAQ document, all open trades have to be novated with the name of the new legal entity in order to notify the change of the counterparty to the contract. In order to report a novation, an early termination with the old UTI (Action type “C”) and a new trade with a new UTI (Action type “N”) should be reported. This applies to both sides of the trade/contract.

This is also consistent with the ARIS validation rule available in the REMIT Documents section of the ACER website. A change to Field No (1) ID of the market participant or counterparty is not possible, as this is a key component for the identification of the uniqueness of the submitted report. As a result, it is not allowed to report it as “M” (‘Modify’).