The Financial Conduct Authority has finalised the first UK conduct regime for providers of environmental, social and governance ratings, setting a timetable that gives firms more than a year to prepare for authorisation.
The rules cover the way in which ratings are produced, governed and communicated. Providers will have to meet requirements on transparency, governance, systems and controls, conflicts of interest, and engagement with users and rated entities. The framework is intended to be proportionate to a provider’s size and activities.
Firms operating in the UK market will be able to apply for authorisation from 24 June 2027. The regime takes effect on 29 June 2028, when an in-scope provider will need FCA authorisation and the relevant permission unless an exclusion applies.
The regulator has deliberately stopped short of dictating a sustainability view or a single rating methodology. Its focus is on the integrity of the process and the information supplied to customers, a distinction that preserves room for different analytical approaches while bringing a previously unregulated service within the financial-services perimeter.
The rules follow Treasury legislation adopted in October 2025 and an FCA consultation that ran from December 2025 to March 2026. The FCA said providers should now determine whether their products fall within the new regulated activity, review the perimeter guidance and begin preparing their governance and control systems.
The FCA’s final policy statement and rules were published on 3 November 2026.
