French Financial Markets Authority and Italian Companies and Exchange Commission propose reforms to make the EU DLT Pilot Regime more flexible and competitive

The French Financial Markets Authority (Autorité des marchés financiers, AMF) and the Italian Companies and Exchange Commission (CONSOB) have published joint proposals to the European Commission and EU co-legislators to recalibrate the EU distributed ledger technology (DLT) Pilot Regime, citing limited market take-up since its application began in March 2023 despite growing interest. The proposals are structured around three priorities. First, they call for greater flexibility and proportionality based on project size and nature, alongside a stronger role for the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) to support consistent supervisory approaches across the EU; they also suggest considering wider use of electronic money tokens and tokenised deposits for settlement, while supporting the rapid development of a safe and efficient central bank money settlement solution for DLT-issued financial assets. Second, they propose broadening the regime’s scope and improving long-term visibility by raising admission and infrastructure capitalisation thresholds, giving ESMA the power to revise those thresholds more dynamically, expanding eligible assets to include instruments such as structured bonds and certain derivatives, and extending the regime’s duration while clarifying exit arrangements. Third, they emphasise interoperability through European common standards and bridges between DLT and traditional infrastructures, coupled with increased outreach to issuers and investors to support adoption. The AMF and CONSOB have submitted these measures for EU-level consideration as part of discussions on the future evolution of the DLT Pilot Regime.