Recital 5

(5)According to the second condition, CRAs in the third country must be subject to legally binding rules which are equivalent to those set out in Articles 6 to 12 and Annex I to Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009, with the exception of Articles 6a, 6b, 8a, 8b, 8c and 11a, point (ba) of point 3 and points 3a and 3b of Section B of Annex I to that Regulation. When assessing the fulfilment of this condition due regard should be paid to Article 2(1) of Regulation (EU) No 462/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council ² in respect of the date of application of certain provisions of Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009. With regard to corporate governance, the Singaporean legal and supervisory framework provides for a general obligation for the CRAs, their officers and staff to fulfil their tasks independently and the effective independence of directors is achieved through requirements for specific policies and shall be demonstrated to the MAS. CRAs have to seek the approval of MAS for the appointment of a CEO or director, whereby MAS takes into account the individual's experience, expertise and past performance. MAS also has the power to demand the removal of the CEO, directors or other officers of the CRA if it considers that those persons failed to discharge their duties, such as with regard to conflicts of interest and the review and compliance function. Extensive provisions are in place in the Singaporean legal and supervisory framework regarding the identification, elimination, management and disclosure of actual or potential conflicts of interest. That framework also requires CRAs to establish a rigorous and formal review function for reviewing rating methodologies and contains a number of organisational requirements to ensure compliance with the laws and rules applicable as well as disclosure requirements such as on the information to be published when issuing credit ratings and annual disclosures concerning its rating activities. Therefore, the Singaporean legal and supervisory framework should achieve the same outcomes as Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009 in respect of the management of conflicts of interest, the organisational processes and procedures that a CRA needs to have in place, the quality of ratings and of rating methodologies, the disclosure of credit ratings and the general and periodic disclosure of credit rating activities. It thus provides for equivalent protection in terms of integrity, transparency, good governance of CRAs and reliability of the credit rating activities.