Covered bonds are characterised by having a scheduled maturity of several years. It is therefore necessary to include transitional measures to ensure that covered bonds issued before 8 July 2022 are not affected. Covered bonds issued before that date should therefore continue to comply with the requirements laid down in Article 52(4) (opens EUR-Lex in a new tab) of Directive 2009/65/EC (opens EUR-Lex in a new tab) on an ongoing basis and should be exempt from most of the new requirements laid down in this Directive. Such covered bonds should be able to continue to be referred to as covered bonds, provided that their compliance with Article 52(4) (opens EUR-Lex in a new tab) of Directive 2009/65/EC (opens EUR-Lex in a new tab), as applicable on the date of their issue, and with the requirements of this Directive that are applicable to them, is subject to supervision by the competent authorities designated pursuant to this Directive. Such supervision should not extend to the requirements of this Directive from which such covered bonds are exempt. In some Member States, ISINs are open for a longer period, allowing for covered bonds to be issued continuously under that code with the purpose of increasing the volume (issue size) of that covered bond (tap issues). The transitional measures should cover tap issues of covered bonds under ISINs opened before 8 July 2022 subject to a number of limitations.