Regulation (EU) No 648/2012 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

Article 31 U.K. Information to [F1 competent authority]

1. A CCP shall notify its competent authority of any changes to its management, and shall provide the competent authority with all the information necessary to assess compliance with Article 27(1) and the second subparagraph of Article 27(2).

Where the conduct of a member of the board is likely to be prejudicial to the sound and prudent management of the CCP, the competent authority shall take appropriate measures, which may include removing that member from the board.

2. Any natural or legal person or such persons acting in concert (the ‘proposed acquirer’), who have taken a decision either to acquire, directly or indirectly, a qualifying holding in a CCP or to further increase, directly or indirectly, such a qualifying holding in a CCP as a result of which the proportion of the voting rights or of the capital held would reach or exceed 10 %, 20 %, 30 % or 50 % or so that the CCP would become its subsidiary (the ‘proposed acquisition’), shall first notify in writing the competent authority of the CCP in which they are seeking to acquire or increase a qualifying holding, indicating the size of the intended holding and relevant information, as referred to in Article 32(4).

Any natural or legal person who has taken a decision to dispose, directly or indirectly, of a qualifying holding in a CCP (the ‘proposed vendor’) shall first notify the competent authority in writing thereof, indicating the size of such holding. Such a person shall likewise notify the competent authority where it has taken a decision to reduce a qualifying holding so that the proportion of the voting rights or of the capital held would fall below 10 %, 20 %, 30 % or 50 % or so that the CCP would cease to be that person’s subsidiary.

The competent authority shall, promptly and in any event within two working days of receipt of the notification referred to in this paragraph and of the information referred to in paragraph 3, acknowledge receipt in writing thereof to the proposed acquirer or vendor.

The competent authority shall have a maximum of 60 working days as from the date of the written acknowledgement of receipt of the notification and all documents required to be attached to the notification on the basis of the list referred to in Article 32(4) (the assessment period), to carry out the assessment provided for in Article 32(1) (the assessment).

The competent authority shall inform the proposed acquirer or vendor of the date of the expiry of the assessment period at the time of acknowledging receipt.

3. The competent authority may, during the assessment period, where necessary, but no later than on the 50th working day of the assessment period, request any further information that is necessary to complete the assessment. Such request shall be made in writing and shall specify the additional information needed.

The assessment period shall be interrupted for the period between the date of request for information by the competent authority and the receipt of a response thereto by the proposed acquirer. The interruption shall not exceed 20 working days. Any further requests by the competent authority for completion or clarification of the information shall be at its discretion but may not result in an interruption of the assessment period.

4. The competent authority may extend the interruption referred to in the second subparagraph of paragraph 3 up to 30 working days where the proposed acquirer or vendor is either:

(a) situated or regulated outside the [F2 United Kingdom];

[F3 (b) a person not subject to supervision:

(i) under this regulation; or

(ii) in the United Kingdom because the person is not—

(aa) an investment firm within the meaning given in Article 2(1A) of the MIFIR which has permission under Part 4A of the FSMA to carry on regulated activities relating to investment services and activities (as defined in Article 2(1)(2) of the MIFIR) in the United Kingdom;

(bb) a credit institution which is a CRR firm (within the meaning given in Article 4(1)(2A) of the Capital Requirements Regulation) which has permission under Part 4A of FSMA to carry on the regulated activity of accepting deposits within the meaning given in article 5 of the Regulated Activities Order;

(cc) an insurance undertaking and reinsurance undertaking within the meaning given in section 417 of the FSMA;

(dd) a UK UCITS (within the meaning given in section 237(3) of the FSMA) and, where relevant, its management company (within the meaning given in section 237(2) of the FSMA);

(ee) an occupational pension scheme within the meaning given in section 1(1) of the Pension Schemes Act 1993; or

(ff) an AIF (within the meaning given in regulation 3 of the Alternative Investment Fund Managers Regulations 2013) managed by an AIFM (within the meaning given in regulation 4 of those Regulations) authorised or registered in accordance with those Regulations.

In this point, “regulated activity” has the meaning given in section 22 of the FSMA.]

5. Where the competent authority, upon completion of the assessment, decides to oppose the proposed acquisition, it shall, within two working days, and not exceeding the assessment period, inform the proposed acquirer in writing and provide the reasons for that decision. [F4 Subject to any provision of the law applying in any part of the United Kingdom,] an appropriate statement of the reasons for the decision may be made accessible to the public at the request of the proposed acquirer. [F5 The competent authority may make such disclosure in the absence of a request by the proposed acquirer.]

6. Where the competent authority does not oppose the proposed acquisition within the assessment period, it shall be deemed to be approved.

7. The competent authority may fix a maximum period for concluding the proposed acquisition and extend it where appropriate.

[F6 8. The competent authority shall not impose requirements for notification and approval of direct or indirect acquisitions of voting rights or capital that are more stringent than those set out in this Regulation.]

Textual Amendments

F1 Words in Art. 31 heading substituted (31.12.2020) by The Over the Counter Derivatives, Central Counterparties and Trade Repositories (Amendment, etc., and Transitional Provision) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/335), regs. 1(1), 37(2) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F2 Words in Art. 31(4)(a) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Over the Counter Derivatives, Central Counterparties and Trade Repositories (Amendment, etc., and Transitional Provision) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/335), regs. 1(1), 37(3)(a) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F3 Art. 31(4)(b) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Over the Counter Derivatives, Central Counterparties and Trade Repositories (Amendment, etc., and Transitional Provision) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/335), regs. 1(1), 37(3)(b) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F4 Words in Art. 31(5) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Over the Counter Derivatives, Central Counterparties and Trade Repositories (Amendment, etc., and Transitional Provision) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/335), regs. 1(1), 37(4)(a) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F5 Words in Art. 31(5) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Over the Counter Derivatives, Central Counterparties and Trade Repositories (Amendment, etc., and Transitional Provision) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/335), regs. 1(1), 37(4)(b) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)

F6 Art. 31(8) substituted (31.12.2020) by The Over the Counter Derivatives, Central Counterparties and Trade Repositories (Amendment, etc., and Transitional Provision) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (S.I. 2019/335), regs. 1(1), 37(5) (with savings in S.I. 2019/680, reg. 11); 2020 c. 1, Sch. 5 para. 1(1)