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The disciplinary procedures

The pre-hearing stage

Based on the reports drawn up following the controls decided by the Secretary General of the ACPR, the College of the ACPR may, as soon as it receives these reports, decide to initiate a disciplinary procedure. Such procedures may be initiated in cases where a reporting entity has failed to respect the applicable regulations or where it has not complied with an administrative enforcement measure decided by the College. They may also be initiated in the event of non-compliance with the terms and conditions of a license or non-compliance with the commitments made when the license was granted.

When the competent session of the College decides to initiate a disciplinary procedure, the Chairman notifies the complaints to those concerned and, at the same time, refers the case to the Sanctions Committee by sending it the complaint notification (Article L. 612-38 of the Monetary and Financial Code).

The Sanctions Committee ensures the adversarial nature of the disciplinary procedure: on the one hand, the College, the plaintiff authority acting through an appointed representative, and on the other, the person(s) under investigation (Article L. 612-38 of the Monetary and Financial Code).


For disciplinary procedures initiated after the Banking and Financial Regulation Act of 22 October 2010 (LRBF), the Chairman of the Sanctions Committee appoints a rapporteur whose functions are similar to those of an investigating magistrate. The purpose of this pre-hearing investigation is to facilitate the Committee’s decision-making given the complexity of the cases submitted to it. The rapporteur puts down in writing the result of his/her investigations in a report that is communicated to the person under investigation and to the plaintiff authority for them to submit comments (R. 612-38 of the Monetary and Financial Code).

The hearing and the Sanctions Committee decision

The member appointed as rapporteur   presents his/her report (Article R. 612-48 I of the Monetary and Financial Code).

The Head of the Treasury and, where appropriate, the Social Security Director (or their representatives) may submit comments.

The College member appointed by the session who decided to initiate the disciplinary procedure is summoned to the hearing but does not participate in the deliberations. He/she may be assisted or represented by the staff of the ACPR, submit observations in support of the notified complaints and propose a sanction (Articles L. 612-38 and R. 612-48 of the Monetary and Financial Code).

The person under investigation and, if necessary, his/her counsel present his/her case (Article R. 612-48 of the Monetary and Financial Code). In any case, the person under investigation and, if necessary, his/her counsel must be able to speak last.


The Sanctions Committee may not proceed with a meeting unless the majority of its members are present. Its meetings must be held in private and may not be attended by the parties to the dispute, the rapporteur, the Head of the Treasury or, when involved, the Social Security Director (or their representatives), the College member or the ACPR staff responsible for assisting or representing the College member (Article R. 612-48 II of the Monetary and Financial Code).

The person under investigation may request that the hearing be held in camera. The Chairman of the Sanctions Committee may deny the public access to the room during all or part of the hearing in the interests of morality, public order, national security or when needed for the protection of business secrets or any other secret protected by law. The Chairman of the Sanctions Committee is responsible for the administration of the hearing and may call upon any person whom he deems useful to hear (Article R. 612-47 of the Monetary and Financial Code).

The meeting secretary draws up the minutes of the hearing, which are signed by the Chairman of the Sanctions Committee, the rapporteur and the meeting secretary and communicated to all Committee members and those summoned to the hearing (Article R. 612-49 of the Monetary and Financial Code).

The decision, signed by the Chairman of the Sanctions Committee, states the names of the Committee members who have deliberated. It is notified to the person under investigation and communicated to the Head of the Treasury and, where appropriate, the Social Security Director and the Chairman of the ACPR who reports to the College (Article R. 612-50 of the Monetary and Financial Code).

Appeals

Article L. 612-16 of the Monetary and Financial Code.

The Sanctions Committee’s decisions may be appealed before the Council of State by the sanctioned persons or by the Chairman of the ACPR (after agreement of the session of the College that notified the complaints) within two months of the notification of the decision.

In the event of an appeal, the Chairman of the ACPR may initiate a counter-claim within two months of the appeal’s notification to the ACPR.

Sanctions

Articles L. 612-39, L. 612-40, L. 612-41 and L. 612-42 of the Monetary and Financial Code

The sanctions risked by the reporting entity include a warning, a reprimand, a prohibition from conducting certain operations for a maximum period of ten years and any other restrictions on the conduct of its activity, the temporary suspension of senior managers for a maximum period of ten years, the compulsory resignation of senior managers, the partial or total withdrawal of the license or authorisation and being struck off the list of authorised entities. Instead of, or in addition to these sanctions, a financial penalty of up to EUR 100 million (EUR 1 million for bureaux de change) may also be handed out.

In addition, Article L. 612-40 of the Monetary and Financial Code holds that in the event of non-compliance with Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on prudential requirements for credit institutions and investment firms, the penalties incurred by legal entities amount to 10% of turnover or twice the benefits derived from the breach when it can be assessed and a maximum amount of EUR 5 million for the responsible leaders.

The decisions taken by the Sanctions Committee are published in the official register of the ACPR and may be made public in any publications, newspapers or media it may wish to use, and in a format that corresponds to the violation committed and the sanction imposed. The costs of any such notices are borne by the entity sanctioned. However, the Committee’s decision may provide for its publication without specifying names in certain exceptional cases where there could be a “risk of seriously disrupting financial markets or of causing a disproportionate prejudice to the parties involved”.

Links to the texts that concern the Sanctions Committee:

Internal Regulations of the Sanctions Committee) (updated in december 2014)

Updated on: 06/07/2018 15:09