Regulation (EU) 2019/1238 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

CHAPTER X U.K. PENALTIES

Article 67 U.K. Administrative penalties and other measures

1. Without prejudice to the supervisory powers of competent authorities and to the right for Member States to provide for and impose criminal sanctions, Member States shall lay down the rules on appropriate administrative penalties and other measures applicable to infringements of this Regulation and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The administrative penalties and other measures provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive.

Member States may decide not to lay down rules for administrative penalties as referred to in the first subparagraph for infringements which are subject to criminal sanctions under their national law.

By the date of application of this Regulation, Member States shall notify the rules referred to in the first and second subparagraph to the Commission and to EIOPA. They shall notify the Commission and EIOPA without delay of any subsequent amendment thereto.

2. The administrative penalties and other measures laid down in paragraph 3 of this Article shall apply at least to situations where:

(a) a financial undertaking as referred to in Article 6(1) has obtained a registration of a PEPP through false or misleading statements or any other irregular means in infringement of Articles 6 and 7;

(b) a financial undertaking as referred to in Article 6(1) provides, respectively distributes, products bearing the designation ‘pan-European Personal Pension Product’ or ‘PEPP’ without the required registration;

(c) a PEPP provider has not provided the portability service in infringement of Article 18 or 19 or the information about that service required under Articles 20 and 21, or has failed to meet the requirements and obligations set out in Chapter IV, Chapter V, Articles 48 and 50, and Chapter VII;

(d) a depositary has failed to fulfil its oversight duties under Article 48.

3. Member States shall, in accordance with national law, provide for competent authorities to have the power to impose at least the following administrative penalties and other measures in relation to the situations referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article:

(a) a public statement, which indicates the identity of the natural or legal person and the nature of the infringement in accordance with Article 69;

(b) an order requiring the natural or legal person to cease the conduct and to desist from a repetition of that conduct;

(c) a temporary ban on any member of the financial undertaking’s management, supervisory or administrative body or any other natural person, who is held responsible, from exercising management functions in such undertakings;

(d) in case of a legal person, maximum administrative fines of at least EUR 5 000 000, or in the Member States whose currency is not the euro, the corresponding value in the national currency on 14 August 2019;

(e) in the case of a legal person, the maximum administrative fines referred to in point (d) may be up to 10 % of the total annual turnover according to the latest available accounts approved by the management, supervisory or administrative body; where the legal person is a parent undertaking or a subsidiary of the parent undertaking which has to prepare consolidated financial accounts in accordance with Directive 2013/34/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council(1), the relevant total annual turnover shall be the total annual turnover or the corresponding type of income in accordance with the relevant accounting legislative acts according to the latest available consolidated accounts approved by the management, supervisory or administrative body of the ultimate parent undertaking;

(f) in the case of a natural person, maximum administrative fines of at least EUR 700 000 or, in the Member States whose currency is not the euro, the corresponding value in the national currency on 14 August 2019;

(g) maximum administrative fines of at least twice the amount of the benefit derived from the infringement where that benefit can be determined, even if that exceeds the maximum amounts in point (d), (e) or (f), respectively.

4. Any decision imposing administrative penalties or other measures set out in the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 and in paragraph 3 shall be reasoned and subject to the right of appeal before a tribunal.

5. In the exercise of their powers under the first subparagraph of paragraph 1 and under paragraph 3, competent authorities shall cooperate closely to ensure that the administrative penalties and other measures produce the results pursued by this Regulation and coordinate their action in order to avoid possible duplication and overlap when applying administrative penalties and other measures to cross-border cases.

Article 68 U.K. Exercise of the power to impose administrative penalties and other measures

1. Competent authorities shall exercise the powers to impose administrative penalties and other measures referred to in Article 67 in accordance with their national legal frameworks:

(a) directly;

(b) in collaboration with other authorities;

(c) by application to the competent judicial authorities.

2. Competent authorities, when determining the type and level of an administrative penalty or other measure imposed under Article 67(3), shall take into account all relevant circumstances, including, where appropriate:

(a) the materiality, gravity and the duration of the infringement;

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

(c) the financial strength of the responsible natural or legal person, as indicated in particular by the total turnover of the responsible legal person or the annual income and net assets of the responsible natural person;

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

(e) the losses for third parties caused by the infringement, insofar as they can be determined;

(f) the level of cooperation of the responsible natural or legal person with the competent authorities, without prejudice to the need to ensure disgorgement of profits gained or losses avoided by that person;

(g) previous infringements by the responsible natural or legal person.

Article 69 U.K. Publication of administrative penalties and other measures

1. Competent authorities shall publish without undue delay on their official websites any decision imposing an administrative penalty or other measure for infringement of this Regulation after the addressee of the administrative penalty or other measure has been notified of that decision.

2. The publication referred to in paragraph 1 shall include information on the type and nature of the infringement and the identity of the persons responsible and the administrative penalties or other measures imposed.

3. Where the publication of the identity, in the case of legal persons, or the identity and personal data, in the case of natural persons, is considered by the competent authorities to be disproportionate following a case-by-case assessment, or where the competent authorities consider that the publication jeopardises the stability of financial markets or an on-going investigation, competent authorities shall either:

(a) defer the publication of the decision imposing the administrative penalty or other measure until the reasons for non-publication cease to exist;

(b) publish the decision imposing the administrative penalty or other measure, omitting for a reasonable period of time the identity and personal data of the addressee, if it is envisaged that within that period the reasons for anonymous publication shall cease to exist and provided that such anonymous publication ensures an effective protection of the personal data concerned; or

(c) not publish at all the decision to impose the administrative penalty or other measure in the event that the options set out in points (a) and (b) are considered to be insufficient to ensure:

(i)

that the stability of financial markets would not be put in jeopardy;

(ii)

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

4. In the case of a decision to publish an administrative penalty or other measure on an anonymous basis as referred to in point (b) of paragraph 3, the publication of the relevant data may be postponed. Where a decision imposing an administrative penalty or other measure is subject to an appeal before the relevant judicial authorities, competent authorities shall also without delay add that information to their official website and any subsequent information on the outcome of such appeal. Any judicial decision annulling a decision imposing an administrative penalty or other measure shall also be published.

5. Competent authorities shall ensure that any publication referred to in paragraphs 1 to 4 shall remain on their official website for at least five years after its publication. Personal data contained in the publication shall only be kept on the official websites of the competent authorities for the period which is necessary in accordance with the applicable data protection rules.

Article 70 U.K. Duty to submit information to EIOPA in relation to administrative penalties and other measures

1. Competent authorities shall inform EIOPA of all administrative penalties and other measures imposed but not published in accordance with point (c) of Article 69(3) including any appeal in relation thereto and the outcome thereof.

2. Competent authorities shall provide EIOPA annually with aggregated information regarding all administrative penalties and other measures imposed in accordance with Article 67.

EIOPA shall publish that information in an annual report.

3. Where Member States have chosen, in accordance with the second subparagraph of Article 67(1), to lay down criminal sanctions for infringements of this Regulation, their competent authorities shall on an annual basis provide EIOPA with anonymised and aggregated data regarding all criminal investigations undertaken and criminal sanctions imposed. EIOPA shall publish anonymised data on criminal sanctions imposed in an annual report.

4. Where competent authorities have disclosed an administrative penalty, other measure or criminal sanction to the public, they shall at the same time report that penalty, measure or sanction to EIOPA.

(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).