Admission
Admission as DCP member
Admission by ECC constitutes a fundamental precondition for exchange trading for DCP Members. It ensures that settlement, delivery and hedging of the transactions are secured by the clearing house.
From a legal point of view DCP members are Clearing Members that hold a DCP clearing license to clear spot market transactions. The legal relationship between the DCP member and ECC is defined by the Clearing Conditions.
Companies solely interested in participating in the German national Emissions Trading Scheme (nEHS) can apply for a simplified nEHS-DCP membership. More information can be found here.
Admission Requirements
The following requirements are necessary for admission by ECC:
- Completion of a Know-Your-Customer (KYC) Questionnaire if requested by ECC and passing of the ECC KYC assessment or other applicable access policies of ECC
- Bank account at a Settlement Bank for facilitating DCP payments (see DCP Payment)
- Approval as a Trading Participant for at least one ECC approved spot market where DCP Model is available
- For Participants of power spot markets: the conclusion of a balance group agreement with the respective TSO
- Equity of at least EUR 50,000. The equity is calculated incl. subscribed capital, capital reserves, retained income less any losses incurred in the course of the year and less intangible assets.
Increases of the subscribed capital during a given year shall be proven by means of the submission of the registration message. A DCP member can increase the equity by means of bank guarantees or guarantees of a parent company accepted by ECC. - Contribution to the Default Fund (depending on the provided collateral)
- Company must be based in a country approved by ECC for the DCP model
Domestic Countries – DCP readiness approvals
1 ECC is continually expanding the list of DCP-eligible countries within the European Union and the European Economic Area. Currently, ECC is reviewing the legal requirements for Austria and Spain, with the review expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
2 Acceptable legal forms:
- public limited company (in Danish: aktieselskab)
- privat limited company (in Danish: anpartsselskab)
- partnership (in Danish: interessentskab)
- limited partnership (in Danish: kommanditselskab)
- an association with limited liability (in Danish: “forening med begrænset ansvar”)
- company with limited liability (in Danish: “selskab med begrænset ansvar”)
KYC Procedure
A company applying as a DCP member at ECC has to pass the KYC (Know-Your-Customer) process at ECC. The company needs to provide a signed and completed KYC questionnaire if requested by ECC. Additionally, the following documents are required:
- Commercial registry extract (no older than 3 months)
- Financial statements from the last fiscal year. If no financial statement is available, business plan of the business activity for the next 3 years
- Organisational chart explaining the shareholder/ownership structure, up to the Ultimate Parent level as well as the direct and indirect beneficial owners
Based on the information given in the KYC questionnaire, the accompanying documents and other information (e.g. Internet, Reuters) ECC calculates a score. Based on this score the applicant is assigned to a risk category which will decide whether to accept or refuse the company’s application. In case of an acceptance of the company as DCP member, ECC also decides on the Cap Limit available for the client.
Cap Limit
The maximum total limit granted to a DCP member is limited by the Cap Limit. The Cap Limit is determined on the basis of the member’s overall risk profile. Even if a DCP member deposits more collateral than the Cap Limit, the maximum collateral considered for the trading limit calculation is the amount of the Cap Limit, not more.
ECC derives the respective Cap Limit on the basis of the applicant's financial strength and internally defined credit-risk-based criteria.
The Cap limit is calculated as part of the KYC process and reassessed once a year for each member.
Material changes of the member
In case the DCP member notifies any material change according to ECC Clearing Conditions section 2.1.5 ECC might request an updated KYC Questionnaire.
Admission Process
The admission by ECC is divided in two parts:
- Admission as DCP member:
At the beginning of each membership stands the admission as DCP member. Therefore, a DCP-form needs to be handed in. Additionally a clearing agreement (CM02) between the DCP member and ECC has to be signed. - Admission for clearing of different products:
The second part of admission is the application for clearing of different spot products traded on ECC’s Partner Exchanges. Therefore, TP-forms have to be submitted to ECC. - To receive access to ECC’s clearing and settlement systems the DCP member has to provide the respective technical form.
- For the limit distribution process the respective operational form is required. More details on the process and accepted collaterals can be found here.
After receiving a complete admission package including all required documents, ECC will commence the admission process. The documents will be examined for completeness as well as correctness.
As soon as all confirmations are available, admission will be issued and information sent to the Partner Exchange.
Extension of a DCP Membership - New Products
To extend the existing DCP Clearing license to another product the respective Trading Participant Form has to be submitted to ECC. A DCP member can only trade on spot markets which fulfil ECC’s requirements to the DCP model.
Approved Markets
The following markets have been approved by ECC for DCP clearing. ECC endeavours to continuously expand the list of DCP approved markets.
| Exchange | Product Name | |
| BSP | Slovenian Power Spot (IT/ST) | |
|
EPEX SPOT | Austrian Power Spot (IT|IT1|ST) | |
| EEX | French Guarantees of Origin (primary auction) National Emission Trading System Certificates (nEHS) / nEZ | |
| HUPX | Hungarian Power (IT/ST) | |
| SEMOpx | Irish Power Spot (IT|IT1|IT2|IT3|ST) | |