1. Applicants from third countries seeking recognition as external reviewers of European Green Bonds shall submit the information referred to in the Annexes to this Regulation in the format set out in those Annexes.
2. Applicants from third countries shall provide the application to ESMA in a machine-readable format which enables:
the information to remain accessible for a period of time adequate for the purposes of the application;
for the unchanged reproduction of the information stored.
3. Applicants shall provide a unique reference number to each document that they submit to ESMA. Applicants shall ensure that the information they submit clearly identifies which specific requirement laid down in Article 23(2) and 42(3) of Regulation (EU) 2023/2631 it refers to and in which document that information is provided. Applicants shall submit the table set out in Annex I to this Regulation as part of their application and shall clearly identify the document in which they have provided the information required.
4. An applicant that considers that a requirement of Regulation (EU) 2023/2631 does not apply to its application for recognition shall:
make a statement to that effect in the table concerned set out in Annex I to this Regulation;
explain why it considers that such requirement does not apply.
5. Applicants shall accompany their application for recognition as a third-country external reviewer with a letter signed by a member of the applicant’s senior management, attesting that the submitted information is accurate and complete to the best of that member’s knowledge, at the date of that submission.
6. External reviewers or ESMA shall keep the personal data relating to applicants for recognition as an external reviewer for as long as it is necessary for the assessment of the initial application and no longer than five years after that applicant has ceased to perform its function.
7. Where ESMA has refused the recognition of the applicant external reviewer or where the applicant withdraws its application, ESMA shall keep the personal data relating to that applicant within a period no longer than five years after the refusal of the recognition of the applicant or after the withdrawal of the application.