246. Article 9(6) second subparagraph of EMIR as amended by EMIR REFIT providing ESMA with the mandate to develop the draft technical standards, explicitly states that ESMA shall take into account international developments and standards agreed upon at Union or global level.

247. Therefore, in the Consultation Paper, ESMA proposed that the data elements related to dates and timestamps should be aligned with the specifications in the CDE guidance.

248. This proposal was overall supported by the respondents. One respondent additionally suggested that a time zone should be added to the format and should be indicated in the date fields. ESMA agrees that this suggestion is consistent with the format specifications of date fields prescribed in the CDE technical guidance and notes that the reference to UTC has already been included in the respective fields in the draft technical standards.