Non exhaustive list of general good rules regarding banking activities in France

When the applicable law is the law of the State Party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area in which providers had their head offices, the carrying-on of banking and financial activities in France by such providers is nevertheless governed by French provisions protecting the general good-rules, non-harmonised at European level, listed in the table below. France should be understood as the territory of Metropolitan France and the territory of the six French outermost regions recognized by the UE under article 349 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union - TFEU (Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion and Saint-Martin).

This list only includes the provisions of the French Monetary and Financial Code and of the French Consumer Code for which the ACPR is responsible for ensuring compliance. It is indicative and does not include other general good-rules, codified and not codified, including legal instruments, binding or soft law, adopted by the ACPR, which govern pursuit of the activities concerned in France. In the area of marketing and costumer protection, also in anti-money laundering and antiterrorist financing, ACPR issues instructions and recommendations applicable to providers carrying on activities in France under the freedom of establishment and can thus be considered as general good-rules. Therefore, these bodies must periodically submit to the ACPR completed questionnaires, based on Instruction n° 2022-I-11 concerning a questionnaire on trading practices and customer protection and Instruction n° 2022-I-18 concerning information about preventing money laundering and financing of terrorism systems. The situation is however different for prudential instructions and recommendations for which the Home Authority is responsible.

In the meantime, providers are required to keep informed of the provisions applicable to them. Legal instruments, binding or soft law, adopted by the ACPR are available on its Official Register. Other relevant provisions shall be published in the Journal Officiel of the French Republic and are otherwise available on the website Legifrance.

1. Credit institution (CI)

2. Credit institution- Investment services provider (CI-ISP)

3. Financial institutions(FI)

4. Investment Firm (IF)

5. (E-M I) E-money Institution

6. (PI) Payment Institution

Updated on the 25th of February 2025