On July 14, 2015, ISDA published the ISDA EMIR Classification Letter which was intended to enable counterparties to notify each other of their status for clearing and other regulatory requirements under the European Market Infrastructure Regulation (EMIR). The ISDA EMIR Classification Letter is a bilateral version of the classification tools that currently exist on ISDA Amend, an online service jointly developed by ISDA and Markit.

The ISDA Clearing Classification Letter was drafted and prepared taking into account the structure of the ISDA EMIR Classification Letter. Market participants intending to notify each other of their status for clearing under EMIR should therefore consider the ISDA EMIR Classification Letter or the EMIR classification tools on ISDA Amend.

At present, the ISDA Clearing Classification Letter is available for use with appendices relating to the ASIC Derivative Transaction Rules (Clearing) 2015.

This representation letter will enable counterparties to notify each other of their respective status for clearing requirements. In particular, the Appendices of this letter have been prepared to contain statements which are to be made in order to determine the application of clearing requirements under Australia’s mandatory central clearing regime for over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives of financial institutions. This letter allows counterparties to bilaterally communicate their status by answering a series of questions. Both a short form and a long form version of the ASIC Clearing Classifications have been prepared in Appendix I of the letter. Appendix II contains the form of ASIC Clearing Classification Update Notice.