Recital 1

(1)The Commission has been empowered to adopt rules of procedure for the exercise of the power to impose fines or periodic penalty payments by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) upon credit rating agencies and persons involved in rating activities. Those rules are to be adopted via delegated act and they should include provisions on rights of defence, temporal provisions, provisions on the collection of fines or periodic penalty payments, as well as detailed provisions on the limitation periods for the imposition and enforcement of fines and periodic penalty payments.