The Regulatory Oversight Committee (ROC) is an international body that promotes the broad public interests to improve the quality of data used in financial data reporting, improving the ability to monitor financial risk, and lowering regulatory reporting costs through the harmonization of these standards across jurisdictions.
The primary objective of the ROC is to oversee the Global LEI System (GLEIS), the Unique Transaction Identifier (UTI), Unique Product Identifier (UPI) System, and the Critical Data Elements (CDE), in accordance with the High Level Principles set out in the ROC Charter. More specifically, the objectives for each of the identifiers are as follows:
With regard to the LEI, the objectives of the ROC are to ensure:
open and free access to publicly available data from the GLEIS, including:
data should be non-proprietary, with no bundling of services, or restrictions on access, usage, or redistribution;
all public data should be readily available on a continuous basis, easily and widely accessible using modern technology, and free of charge;
confidential data should be safeguarded and with due regard for any applicable data protection legislation;
data and operating processes should not be subject to any type of intellectual property restrictions, except those judged necessary by the ROC for protecting the broad public interest;
restrictions should not be placed on a registrant on the use of its own LEI.
open access to obtaining an LEI, including:
by providing that any entities required, or eligible, to obtain an LEI are able to acquire one under open and non-discriminatory terms;
by providing that fees, where and when imposed by the LEI Central Operating Unit (LEI COU,the GLEIF), are set on a non-profit cost-recovery basis under the premise that the operational model of the LEI COU is efficient and avoids excessive costs and, that where possible, a parallel arrangement holds for the LOUs;
by providing that the intellectual property necessary for or associated with the operation of the GLEIS is held in a way that facilitates achievement of the High Level Principles.
that the GLEIS meets broad public and private sector requirements, including:
ensuring the uniqueness, consistency, exclusivity, accuracy, reliability, timeliness of access, portability, and persistence of the LEI codes and reference data;
promoting the use and scope of the GLEIS to expand the collective benefit from widespread adoption; and
allowing use of local languages and character sets in registration, as well as allowing access to the GLEIS in a common language and character set.
With regard to the UTI:
unrestricted and free access to and use of the UTI for national or regional authorities, trade repositories acting in their capacity as trade repositories, and all other stakeholders and those involved in the lifecycle of a derivative contract;
unrestricted access to the UTI data standard on a cost-recovery basis;
that the UTI and UTI data standard adhere to the characteristics as defined in the UTI Technical Guidance; and, (4) use of and access to the UTI and UTI data standards is free of licensing restrictions, not tied or bundled with any other service offered by a service provider, and that intellectual property necessary for or associated with the operation of the UTI is held in a way that facilitates achievement of the relevant High Level Principles.
With regard to the UPI:
unrestricted access to, and use of, UPI Codes and UPI data standard; and that such access should not be tied or bundled with any other services offered by a service provider;
unrestricted and free access to, and use of, the UPI Reference Data Library and of the UPI system itself for national or regional authorities;
that the UPI code and reference data adhere to the Technical Principles as defined in the UPI Technical Guidance;
access to, and use of, the UPI Reference Data Library for all entities with reporting obligations and trade repositories in a manner that is sufficient to allow them to associate a specific derivative product to its UPI Code in a timely manner to facilitate the discharge of reporting obligations for derivative transactions;
that any fees, when and where imposed by the UPI service provider(s), are set on a cost-recovery basis and allocated fairly among stakeholders (excepting authorities, for which use of the UPI system will be free);
that the UPI Data Standard is not subject to any intellectual property/licensing restrictions and intellectual property necessary for or associated with the operation of the UPI Reference Data Library is held in a way that facilitates achievement of the relevant High Level Principles;
that the UPI service provider has policies and procedures that are reasonably designed to detect and effectively manage any potential conflict of interest, and that access to the UPI is not tied or bundled with any other services offered by the UPI service provider(s); and
the operational viability and continuity of UPI service provider operations in accordance with the relevant High-Level Principles.
With regard to the CDE:
unrestricted and free access to, and use of, CDE (including definitions, formats, and allowable values), and that the CDE Technical Guidance and the CDE Data Standards remain open source and freely available;
that use of the CDE (including their definitions, formats, and allowable values) should not be subject to any intellectual property restrictions;
that CDE Data Standards are agnostic to existing communication protocols and should be implementable in any existing syntax; and,
compatibility of CDE data standards with the relevant High-Level Principles.
The ROC's sole decision-making body is the ROC Plenary, comprising more than 65 financial markets regulators and other public authorities from more than 50 jurisdictions. The ROC's work is also taken forward by a regionally balanced Executive Committee, supported by two standing Committees and a Secretariat.
Committee on Evaluation and Standards (CES): The primary responsibility of the CES is to evaluate the adequacy of existing standards and protocols for GLEIS in the light of the High Level Principles (ROC Charter, Annex A) and other principles adopted by the ROC and that serve the broad public interest, and to propose to the ROC Plenary revised or additional standards / protocols as necessary.
Committee on Derivatives Identifiers and Data Elements (CDIDE): The primary responsibility of the CDIDE is to evaluate the adequacy of existing standards and protocols for the UPI, UTI, and CDE in the light of the High Level Principles (ROC Charter, Annex C) and other principles adopted by the ROC and that serve the broad public interest, and to propose to the ROC Plenary revised or additional standards / protocols as necessary.