THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Having regard to Regulation (EU) No 600/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 [OJ L 173, 12.6.2014, p. 84.], and in particular Article 32(6) thereof,

Whereas:

(1) This Regulation contributes to the specification of the criteria for the determination of sufficient third-party buying and selling interest in a class of derivatives or a relevant subset of a class of derivatives. Where the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has established that a class of derivatives should be subject to the clearing obligation under Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council [Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories (OJ L 201, 27.7.2012, p. 1)] and that the derivatives are admitted to trading or traded on a trading venue, ESMA should follow the criteria in this Regulation to determine whether the derivatives or subset thereof are considered sufficiently liquid to trade exclusively on trading venues.