Belgium Financial Services and Markets Authority receives enforcement powers to supervise issuers under the EU Green Bonds Regulation

Belgium’s Financial Services and Markets Authority (FSMA) announced that a Belgian law has designated it as the competent authority for supervising issuer compliance with the transparency requirements attached to the voluntary European Green Bond (EuGB) standard under the EU Green Bonds Regulation, and has granted it related supervisory and enforcement powers. The law’s provisions enter into force on 8 May 2025. Under the EuGB standard, issuers may use the “European Green Bond” or “EuGB” designation if bond proceeds are allocated to environmentally sustainable activities under the EU Taxonomy, with up to 15% permitted to deviate only under strictly defined conditions. Issuers must provide enhanced disclosures, including a pre-issuance factsheet, an annual post-issuance allocation report, and an impact report once proceeds are fully allocated, alongside a prospectus in the usual cases, with limited exceptions for sovereign issuers. These documents must generally be externally reviewed (the impact report is optional for external review), published on the issuer’s website, and, where a prospectus is approved by the FSMA, notified to the FSMA. The law empowers the FSMA to require issuers to publish the required EuGB documentation and include mandated information, to require publication of reviews and assessments, and to intervene through measures including suspending or prohibiting offers or admissions to trading of EuGBs, suspending or prohibiting advertisements, and banning an issuer from issuing EuGBs for up to one year. In the broader supervisory framework, external reviewers assess alignment with the EuGB requirements, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) registers and oversees external reviewers, and national authorities supervise issuer transparency obligations.