Article 21
Equivalence of reporting
1.
The Commission may adopt implementing acts determining that the legal, supervisory and enforcement arrangements of a third country:
(a)
are equivalent to the requirements laid down in Article 4;
(b)
ensure protection of professional secrecy equivalent to that laid down in this Regulation;
(c)
are being effectively applied and enforced in an equitable and non-distortive manner in order to ensure effective supervision and enforcement in that third country; and
2.
Where the Commission has adopted an implementing act on equivalence with regard to a third country, as referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, counterparties entering into a transaction subject to this Regulation shall be deemed to have fulfilled the requirements laid down in Article 4 where at least one of the counterparties is established in that third country and the counterparties have complied with the relevant obligations of that third country in relation to that transaction.
That implementing act shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 31(2).
The Commission shall, in cooperation with ESMA, monitor the effective implementation by third countries for which an implementing act on equivalence has been adopted of the requirements equivalent to those laid down in Article 4 and report regularly to the European Parliament and to the Council. Where the report reveals an insufficient or inconsistent application of the equivalent requirements by third-country authorities, the Commission shall consider, within 30 calendar days of the presentation of the report, whether to withdraw the recognition as equivalent of the third-country legal framework in question.