ESMA issues today its Guidelines on endorsement with a Final Report, including a Feedback Statement. This report is accompanied by a press release. These Guidelines address how ESMA will implement the “as stringent as” test for credit ratings produced outside the European Union, in so-called “third countries”. These credit ratings are used by financial institutions to assess the risk of their exposures and in calculating their capital requirements. The test requires that the credit rating activities performed by Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) outside the Euro-pean Union are subject to requirements established by law which are “as stringent as” those applicable in the EU.