Joint Board of Appeal
The Board of Appeal is a joint body of the European Banking Authority (EBA), the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) and the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), collectively known as the three European Supervisory Authorities (ESAs). It’s the Board’s primary purpose is to safeguard the rights of parties affected by decisions made by these Authorities.
While the Authorities assist the Board of Appeal with its secretariat, the Board of Appeal operates independently. The establishment of an impartial and autonomous Board of Appeal is outlined in Articles 58 and 59 of the Regulations governing the ESAs (the ESAs' Regulations).
The Board of Appeal's main role is to rule on appeals against specific decisions issued by the Authorities, as stipulated in Article 60 of the ESAs' Regulations.
Decisions rendered by the Board of Appeal can themselves be subject to further appeal to the Court of Justice of the European Union, in accordance with Article 61 of the ESAs' Regulations and pertinent sector-specific legislation.
In accordance with Article 60(6) of the ESAs' Regulations, the Board of Appeal has adopted Rules of Procedure which govern the bringing and conduct of an appeal.
The full appeal process may be found under the Rules of Procedure. Further, there are Guidelines to the Parties to Appeal Proceedings before the Board of Appeal, and an indicative form for a Notice of Appeal. Legal articles quoted in the text below are from the ESAs' Regulations, or the Board of Appeal's Rules of Procedure.
Article 60 (1) of the ESAs' Regulations states that any individual or legal entity, including competent authorities, has the right to challenge a decision made by the Authority in accordance with Articles 17, 18, and 19, as well as any other decision issued by the Authority following the Union acts mentioned in Article 1(2). This right to appeal applies when the decision is either directly addressed to the appellant or, even if it's formally directed at someone else, directly and individually affects the appellant's interests.
Prospective Appellants should carefully review Article 60 of the ESAs' Regulations and the Rules of Procedure of the Board of Appeal, especially focusing on Articles 5 and 7, to ensure that their appeal is submitted within the specified timeframe. Here is a summary of these provisions:
Article 60 (2) of the ESAs' Regulations provides that:
The appeal, along with a statement of reasons, must be submitted in writing to the Authority within three months of the date on which the decision was communicated to the individual concerned. In cases where there is no notification, the deadline starts from the day the Authority publicly announces its decision.
The Rules of Procedure of the Board of Appeal provide the procedure for this submission:
A party wishing to lodge an appeal against a decision of the Authority under Article 60 of the ESAs' Regulations must do so by submitting a Notice of Appeal to the Secretariat at the respective ESA whose decision is being appealed. (from Article 5).
In this context, the "respondent ESA" refers to the ESA whose decision is the subject of the appeal.
Article 7 of the Rules of Procedure of the Board of Appeal specifies that the submission can be made via email, registered post, or personal delivery. The relevant contact details for these methods are provided below.
The Notice of Appeal should also be duplicated in physical (hard copy) form and sent via email to the Authority responsible for the Secretariat during the reference year. This ensures that the appeal is properly documented and received by the relevant Authority.
Once the appeal is submitted, the Secretariat at the respondent ESA transmits the Notice of Appeal to the Secretariat at the relevant ESA that will manage the appeal process, as detailed in Article 4 of the Rules of Procedure of the Board of Appeal.
The Secretariat of the Board of Appeal rotates every year, as indicated below:
for 2024 by European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA)
201-203 rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris - France
boardofappeal@esma.europa.eu
for 2025 by European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA)
Westhafenplatz 1, 60327 Frankfurt am Main - German
boardofappeal@eiopa.europa.eu
for 2026 by European Banking Authority (EBA)
Tour Europlaza, 20 avenue André Prothin CS 30154, 92927 Paris La Défense CEDEX - France
boardofappeal@eba.europa.eu
Since no ESA can administer an appeal filed against its own acts (Article 4 of the Rules of Procedure of the Board of Appeal), if the appeal is brought against the Authority which provides the Secretariat in that year, the Notice of Appeal should be copied in hard form and by e-mail to the Authority which provides the Secretariat for the following year. |