(27)Given the use of ESG ratings from providers established outside the Union, and in order to ensure market integrity, investor protection and proper enforcement of this Regulation, it is necessary to introduce requirements based on which ESG rating providers established outside the Union may offer their services in the Union. Therefore, three possible regimes are proposed for ESG rating providers established outside the Union: equivalence, endorsement and recognition. As a rule, supervision and regulation in a third country should be equivalent to Union supervision and regulation of ESG ratings. Therefore, ESG ratings provided by an ESG rating provider established outside the Union and authorised or registered as such in a third country should only be offered in the Union where a positive decision on equivalence of the third-country regime has been taken by the Commission. However, to avoid any adverse impact resulting from a possible abrupt cessation of the offering in the Union of ESG ratings provided by an ESG rating provider established outside the Union, it is necessary to provide for certain other regimes, namely of endorsement and recognition. Any ESG rating provider with a group structure should be able to use the endorsement regime for ESG ratings developed outside the Union. To do so, it should establish, within the group structure, an authorised ESG rating provider in the Union. That authorised ESG rating provider should ensure that the issuance and distribution of endorsed ESG ratings fulfils requirements which are at least as stringent as the requirements of this Regulation. Additionally, the ESG rating provider established in the Union should possess the necessary expertise to effectively monitor the issuance and distribution of ESG ratings provided by the ESG rating provider established outside the Union and there should be an objective reason why the endorsed ratings are issued by a provider established outside the Union. The requirement to demonstrate compliance with this Regulation should not be proven for each individual endorsed ESG rating but rather for the overall methodologies and procedures implemented by the ESG rating provider. For their part, ESG rating providers that are categorised as small undertakings or small groups according to the criteria laid down in Directive 2013/34/EU (‘small ESG rating providers’) should be able to benefit from the recognition regime. Where an ESG provider established outside the Union is subject to supervision in a third country, appropriate cooperation arrangements should be put in place in order to ensure an efficient exchange of information with the relevant third-country competent authority.