Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

CHAPTER 5 U.K. ADMINISTRATIVE MEASURES AND SANCTIONS

Article 30 U.K. Administrative sanctions and other administrative measures

1. Without prejudice to any criminal sanctions and without prejudice to the supervisory powers of competent authorities under Article 23, Member States shall, in accordance with national law, provide for competent authorities to have the power to take appropriate administrative sanctions and other administrative measures in relation to at least the following infringements:

(a) infringements of Articles 14 and 15, Article 16(1) and (2), Article 17(1), (2), (4) and (5), and (8), Article 18(1) to (6), Article 19(1), (2), (3), (5), (6), (7) and (11) and Article 20(1); and

(b) failure to cooperate or to comply with an investigation, with an inspection or with a request as referred to in Article 23(2).

Member States may decide not to lay down rules for administrative sanctions as referred to in the first subparagraph where the infringements referred to in point (a) or point (b) of that subparagraph are already subject to criminal sanctions in their national law by 3 July 2016. Where they so decide, Member States shall notify, in detail, to the Commission and to ESMA, the relevant parts of their criminal law.

By 3 July 2016, Member States shall notify, in detail, the rules referred to in the first and second subparagraph to the Commission and to ESMA. They shall notify the Commission and ESMA without delay of any subsequent amendments thereto.

2. Member States shall, in accordance with national law, ensure that competent authorities have the power to impose at least the following administrative sanctions and to take at least the following administrative measures in the event of the infringements referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph of paragraph 1:

(a) an order requiring the person responsible for the infringement to cease the conduct and to desist from a repetition of that conduct;

(b) the disgorgement of the profits gained or losses avoided due to the infringement insofar as they can be determined;

(c) a public warning which indicates the person responsible for the infringement and the nature of the infringement;

(d) withdrawal or suspension of the authorisation of an investment firm;

(e) a temporary ban of a person discharging managerial responsibilities within an investment firm or any other natural person, who is held responsible for the infringement, from exercising management functions in investment firms;

(f) in the event of repeated infringements of Article 14 or 15, a permanent ban of any person discharging managerial responsibilities within an investment firm or any other natural person who is held responsible for the infringement, from exercising management functions in investment firms;

(g) a temporary ban of a person discharging managerial responsibilities within an investment firm or another natural person who is held responsible for the infringement, from dealing on own account;

(h) maximum administrative pecuniary sanctions of at least three times the amount of the profits gained or losses avoided because of the infringement, where those can be determined;

(i) in respect of a natural person, maximum administrative pecuniary sanctions of at least:

(i)

for infringements of Articles 14 and 15, EUR 5 000 000 or in the Member States whose currency is not the euro, the corresponding value in the national currency on 2 July 2014;

(ii)

for infringements of Articles 16 and 17, EUR 1 000 000 or in the Member States whose currency is not the euro, the corresponding value in the national currency on 2 July 2014; and

(iii)

for infringements of Articles 18, 19 and 20, EUR 500 000 or in the Member States whose currency is not the euro, the corresponding value in the national currency on 2 July 2014; and

(j) in respect of legal persons, maximum administrative pecuniary sanctions of at least:

(i)

for infringements of Articles 14 and 15, EUR 15 000 000 or 15 % of the total annual turnover of the legal person according to the last available accounts approved by the management body, or in the Member States whose currency is not the euro, the corresponding value in the national currency on 2 July 2014;

(ii)

for infringements of Articles 16 and 17, EUR 2 500 000 or 2 % of its total annual turnover according to the last available accounts approved by the management body, or in the Member States whose currency is not the euro, the corresponding value in the national currency on 2 July 2014; and

(iii)

for infringements of Articles 18, 19 and 20, EUR 1 000 000 or in the Member States whose currency is not the euro, the corresponding value in the national currency on 2 July 2014.

References to the competent authority in this paragraph are without prejudice to the ability of the competent authority to exercise its functions in any ways referred to in Article 23(1).

For the purposes of points (j)(i) and (ii) of the first subparagraph, where the legal person is a parent undertaking or a subsidiary undertaking which is required to prepare consolidated financial accounts pursuant to Directive 2013/34/EU(1), the relevant total annual turnover shall be the total annual turnover or the corresponding type of income in accordance with the relevant accounting directives – Council Directive 86/635/EEC(2) for banks and Council Directive 91/674/EEC(3) for insurance companies – according to the last available consolidated accounts approved by the management body of the ultimate parent undertaking.

3. Member States may provide that competent authorities have powers in addition to those referred to in paragraph 2 and may provide for higher levels of sanctions than those established in that paragraph.

Article 31 U.K. Exercise of supervisory powers and imposition of sanctions

1. Member States shall ensure that when determining the type and level of administrative sanctions, competent authorities take into account all relevant circumstances, including, where appropriate:

(a) the gravity and duration of the infringement;

(b) the degree of responsibility of the person responsible for the infringement;

(c) the financial strength of the person responsible for the infringement, as indicated, for example, by the total turnover of a legal person or the annual income of a natural person;

(d) the importance of the profits gained or losses avoided by the person responsible for the infringement, insofar as they can be determined;

(e) the level of cooperation of the person responsible for the infringement with the competent authority, without prejudice to the need to ensure disgorgement of profits gained or losses avoided by that person;

(f) previous infringements by the person responsible for the infringement; and

(g) measures taken by the person responsible for the infringement to prevent its repetition.

2. In the exercise of their powers to impose administrative sanctions and other administrative measures under Article 30, competent authorities shall cooperate closely to ensure that the exercise of their supervisory and investigative powers, and the administrative sanctions that they impose, and the other administrative measures that they take, are effective and appropriate under this Regulation. They shall coordinate their actions in accordance with Article 25 in order to avoid duplication and overlaps when exercising their supervisory and investigative powers and when imposing administrative sanctions in respect of cross-border cases.

Article 32 U.K. Reporting of infringements

1. Member States shall ensure that competent authorities establish effective mechanisms to enable reporting of actual or potential infringements of this Regulation to competent authorities.

2. The mechanisms referred to in paragraph 1 shall include at least:

(a) specific procedures for the receipt of reports of infringements and their follow-up, including the establishment of secure communication channels for such reports;

(b) within their employment, appropriate protection for persons working under a contract of employment, who report infringements or are accused of infringements, against retaliation, discrimination or other types of unfair treatment at a minimum; and

(c) protection of personal data both of the person who reports the infringement and the natural person who allegedly committed the infringement, including protection in relation to preserving the confidentiality of their identity, at all stages of the procedure without prejudice to disclosure of information being required by national law in the context of investigations or subsequent judicial proceedings.

3. Member States shall require employers who carry out activities that are regulated by financial services regulation to have in place appropriate internal procedures for their employees to report infringements of this Regulation.

4. Member States may provide for financial incentives to persons who offer relevant information about potential infringements of this Regulation to be granted in accordance with national law where such persons do not have other pre-existing legal or contractual duties to report such information, and provided that the information is new, and that it results in the imposition of an administrative or criminal sanction, or the taking of another administrative measure, for an infringement of this Regulation.

5. The Commission shall adopt implementing acts to specify the procedures referred to in paragraph 1, including the arrangements for reporting and for following-up reports, and measures for the protection of persons working under a contract of employment and measures for the protection of personal data. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 36(2).

Article 33 U.K. Exchange of information with ESMA

1. Competent authorities shall provide ESMA annually with aggregated information regarding all administrative sanctions and other administrative measures imposed by the competent authority in accordance with Articles 30, 31 and 32. ESMA shall publish that information in an annual report. Competent authorities shall also provide ESMA annually with anonymised and aggregated data regarding all administrative investigations undertaken in accordance with those Articles.

2. Where Member States have, in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 30(1), laid down criminal sanctions for the infringements referred to in that Article, their competent authorities shall provide ESMA annually with anonymised and aggregated data regarding all criminal investigations undertaken and criminal penalties imposed by the judicial authorities in accordance with Articles 30, 31 and 32. ESMA shall publish data on criminal sanctions imposed in an annual report.

3. Where the competent authority has disclosed administrative or criminal sanctions or other administrative measures to the public, it shall simultaneously notify ESMA thereof.

4. Where a published administrative or criminal sanction or other administrative measure relates to an investment firm authorised in accordance with Directive 2014/65/EU, ESMA shall add a reference to that published sanction or measure in the register of investment firms established under Article 5(3) of that Directive.

5. In order to ensure uniform conditions of application of this Article, ESMA shall develop draft implementing technical standards to determine the procedures and forms for exchange of information as referred to in this Article.

ESMA shall submit those draft implementing technical standards to the Commission by 3 July 2016.

Power is conferred on the Commission to adopt the implementing technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph in accordance with Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.

Article 34 U.K. Publication of decisions

1. Subject to the third subparagraph, competent authorities shall publish any decision imposing an administrative sanction or other administrative measure in relation to an infringement of this Regulation on their website immediately after the person subject to that decision has been informed of that decision. Such publication shall include at least information on the type and nature of the infringement and the identity of the person subject to the decision.

The first subparagraph does not apply to decisions imposing measures that are of an investigatory nature.

Where a competent authority considers that the publication of the identity of the legal person subject to the decision, or of the personal data of a natural person, would be disproportionate following a case-by-case assessment conducted on the proportionality of the publication of such data, or where such publication would jeopardise an ongoing investigation or the stability of the financial markets, it shall do any of the following:

(a) defer publication of the decision until the reasons for that deferral cease to exist;

(b) publish the decision on an anonymous basis in accordance with national law where such publication ensures the effective protection of the personal data concerned;

(c) not publish the decision in the event that the competent authority is of the opinion that publication in accordance with point (a) or (b) will be insufficient to ensure:

(i)

that the stability of financial markets is not jeopardised; or

(ii)

the proportionality of the publication of such decisions with regard to measures which are deemed to be of a minor nature.

Where a competent authority takes a decision to publish a decision on an anonymous basis as referred to in point (b) of the third subparagraph, it may postpone the publication of the relevant data for a reasonable period of time where it is foreseeable that the reasons for anonymous publication will cease to exist during that period.

2. Where the decision is subject to an appeal before a national judicial, administrative or other authority, competent authorities shall also publish immediately on their website such information and any subsequent information on the outcome of such an appeal. Moreover, any decision annulling a decision subject to appeal shall also be published.

3. Competent authorities shall ensure that any decision that is published in accordance with this Article shall remain accessible on their website for a period of at least five years after its publication. Personal data contained in such publications shall be kept on the website of the competent authority for the period which is necessary in accordance with the applicable data protection rules.

(1)

Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings, amending Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council and repealing Council Directives 78/660/EEC and 83/349/EEC (OJ L 182, 29.6.2013, p. 19).

(2)

Council Directive 86/635/EEC of 8 December 1986 on the annual accounts and consolidated accounts of banks and other financial institutions (OJ L 372, 31.12.1986, p. 1).

(3)

Council Directive 91/674/EEC of 19 December 1991 on the annual accounts and consolidated accounts of insurance undertakings (OJ L 374, 31.12.1991, p. 7).