As part of the ongoing effort to enhance the integrity of financial benchmarks in the wake of the recent rate setting scandal, global securities regulators proposed a set of principles for benchmarks Tuesday.

The International Organization of Securities Commissions (IOSCO) published a consultation paper, which seeks public comments on both a set of high-level principles for financial benchmarks, and a subset of more detailed principles for benchmarks that have specific risks based on their reliance on submissions and/or their ownership structure.

IOSCO says that the proposed principles form part of its efforts to enhance the integrity, reliability, and oversight of benchmarks by establishing guidelines for benchmark administrators and others on governance, benchmark quality, methodology, and accountability mechanisms. IOSCO’s board is seeking to establish policy guidance and principles that will address conflicts of interest in the benchmark setting process, ensure transparency, and deal with transition issues.

The principles were developed by an IOSCO task force that was established in September 2012 following regulatory enforcement in cases involving the manipulation of major interest rate benchmarks, such as the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). It notes that those investigations and enforcement actions “raised concerns over the fragility of certain benchmarks, caused by vulnerabilities in their methodology, transparency and governance arrangements.”

The principles represent recommended practices that, IOSCO says, should be implemented by benchmark administrators and submitters. Regulators should encourage implementation of these principles, where appropriate, it says. And, it notes that they should consider whether regulatory action is necessary to encourage implementation.

“The principles proposed today extend the existing work conducted on LIBOR and other reference rates to a wider set of benchmarks. This is a key step in strengthening confidence and integrity of financial markets,” said Martin Wheatley, chief executive of the UK’s new Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), who co-chaired the task force along with Gary Gensler, the chairman of the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

“To promote market integrity, it is critical that benchmark interest rates be anchored in observable transactions and supported by appropriate governance structures,” added Gensler. “Given what the world has learned about LIBOR, Euribor and similar rates, I am pleased that the IOSCO proposed principles include both of these essential elements.”

Comments on the principles are due by May 16.