The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) (Amendment) (No. 2) Order 2017

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order amends article 53 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 2001(1) (“the RAO”), which specifies advising on investments as a regulated activity. The effect of the amendments is that a person who is authorised to carry on a regulated activity which is not the activity specified by article 53(1) of the RAO and is not the activity of agreeing to carry on that activity as specified by article 64 of the RAO will give investment advice only when providing a personal recommendation. The definition of “personal recommendation” in article 53(1A) follows that in Article 9 of Commission Delegated Regulation of 25.4.2016 supplementing Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council as regards organisational requirements and operating conditions for investment firms and defined terms for the purposes of that Directive(2). Article 54 of the RAO is also amended, so that the activity of advising on investments when giving a personal recommendation described in article 53(1A) of the RAO is outside the exclusion in article 54 for advice given in newspapers etc. from the kinds of activities specified by the articles listed there.

A full impact assessment of the effect that this Order will have on the costs of business and the voluntary sector is available from Her Majesty’s Treasury, 1 Horse Guards Road, London, SW1A 2HQ or on www.gov.uk and is published alongside the Order on www.legislation.gov.uk.

(2)

The Commission Delegated Regulation has been adopted but has not yet been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. A copy is available at https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/3/2016/EN/3-2016-2398-EN-F1-1.PDF.