CHAPTER I

General provisions

Subject matter, scope and exemptions
Article 1
1
This Regulation lays down uniform requirements for the provision of crowdfunding services, for the organisation, authorisation and supervision of crowdfunding service providers, for the operation of crowdfunding platforms as well as for transparency and marketing communications in relation to the provision of crowdfunding services in the Union.
2
This Regulation does not apply to:
a
crowdfunding services that are provided to project owners that are consumers, as defined in point (a) of Article 3 of Directive 2008/48/EC;
b
other services related to those defined in point (a) of Article 2(1) and that are provided in accordance with national law;
c
crowdfunding offers with a consideration of more than EUR 5 000 000, which are to be calculated over a period of 12 months as the sum of:
1. the total consideration of offers of transferable securities and admitted instruments for crowdfunding purposes as defined in points (m) and (n) of Article 2(1) of this Regulation and amounts raised by means of loans through a crowdfunding platform by a particular project owner; and
2. the total consideration of offers to the public of transferable securities made by the project owner referred to in point (i) of this point in its capacity as an offeror pursuant to the exemption under Article 1(3), or Article 3(2), of Regulation (EU) 2017/1129.
3
Unless a crowdfunding service provider, a project owner or an investor is authorised as a credit institution in accordance with Article 8 of Directive 2013/36/EU, Member States shall not apply national requirements implementing Article 9(1) of that Directive and shall ensure that national law does not require an authorisation as credit institution or any other individual authorisation, exemption or dispensation in connection with the provision of crowdfunding services in the following situations:
a
for project owners that in respect of loans facilitated by the crowdfunding service provider accept funds from investors; or
b
for investors that grant loans to project owners facilitated by the crowdfunding service provider.

Definitions
Article 2
1
For the purposes of this Regulation, the following definitions apply:
a
‘crowdfunding service’ means the matching of business funding interests of investors and project owners through the use of a crowdfunding platform and which consists of any of the following activities:
1. the facilitation of granting of loans;
2. the placing without a firm commitment basis, as referred to in point (7) of Section A of Annex I to Directive 2014/65/EU, of transferable securities and admitted instruments for crowdfunding purposes issued by project owners or a special purpose vehicle, and the reception and transmission of client orders, as referred to in point (1) of that Section, in relation to those transferable securities and admitted instruments for crowdfunding purposes;
b
‘loan’ means an agreement whereby an investor makes available to a project owner an agreed amount of money for an agreed period of time and whereby the project owner assumes an unconditional obligation to repay that amount to the investor, together with the accrued interest, in accordance with the instalment payment schedule;
c
‘individual portfolio management of loans’ means the allocation by the crowdfunding service provider of a pre-determined amount of funds of an investor, which is an original lender, to one or multiple crowdfunding projects on its crowdfunding platform in accordance with an individual mandate given by the investor on a discretionary investor-by-investor basis;
d
‘crowdfunding platform’ means a publicly accessible internet-based information system operated or managed by a crowdfunding service provider;
e
‘crowdfunding service provider’ means a legal person who provides crowdfunding services;
f
‘crowdfunding offer’ means any communication by a crowdfunding service provider, in any form and by any means, presenting sufficient information on the terms of the offer and the crowdfunding project being offered, so as to enable an investor to invest in the crowdfunding project;
g
‘client’ means any prospective or actual investor or project owner to whom a crowdfunding service provider provides, or intends to provide, crowdfunding services;
h
‘project owner’ means any natural or legal person who seeks funding through a crowdfunding platform;
i
‘investor’ means any natural or legal person who, through a crowdfunding platform, grants loans or acquires transferable securities or admitted instruments for crowdfunding purposes;
j
‘sophisticated investor’ means any natural or legal person who is a professional client by virtue of point (1), (2), (3) or (4) of Section I of Annex II to Directive 2014/65/EU or any natural or legal person who has the approval of the crowdfunding service provider to be treated as a sophisticated investor in accordance with the criteria and the procedure laid down in Annex II to this Regulation;
k
‘non-sophisticated investor’ means an investor who is not a sophisticated investor;
l
‘crowdfunding project’ means the business activity or activities for which a project owner seeks funding through the crowdfunding offer;
m
‘transferable securities’ means transferable securities as defined in point (44) of Article 4(1) of Directive 2014/65/EU;
n
‘admitted instruments for crowdfunding purposes’ means, in respect of each Member State, shares of a private limited liability company that are not subject to restrictions that would effectively prevent them from being transferred, including restrictions to the way in which those shares are offered or advertised to the public;
o
‘marketing communications’ means any information or communication from a crowdfunding service provider to a prospective investor or prospective project owner about the services of the crowdfunding service provider, other than investor disclosures required under this Regulation;
p
‘durable medium’ means an instrument which enables the storage of information in a way that is accessible for future reference and for a period of time that is adequate for the purposes of the information, and which allows for the unchanged reproduction of the information stored;
q
‘special purpose vehicle’ or ‘SPV’ means an entity created solely for, or which solely serves the purpose of, a securitisation within the meaning of point (2) of Article 1 of Regulation (EU) No 1075/2013 of the European Central Bank ;
r
‘competent authority’ means the authority, or authorities, designated by a Member State in accordance with Article 29.
2
Without prejudice to the possibility that shares of a private limited liability company fall under the definition of transferable securities under point (m) of paragraph 1, competent authorities that granted authorisation to the crowdfunding service provider may permit the use of such shares for the purposes of this Regulation provided that they meet the conditions for admitted instruments for crowdfunding purposes under point (n) of paragraph 1.
3
Competent authorities shall, on an annual basis, inform ESMA about the types of private limited liability companies and their shares that are offered and which fall within the scope of this Regulation, with reference to the applicable national law.
ESMA shall make the information referred to in the first subparagraph publicly accessible on its website without undue delay.
4
On an annual basis, for the first two years of the application of this Regulation, ESMA shall collect the key investment information sheets drawn up by project owners that have issued admitted instruments for crowdfunding purposes. ESMA shall compare the information referred to in points (b) and (c) of part F of Annex I as provided in the key investment information sheets with the information provided by Member States under paragraph 3 of this Article. ESMA shall submit that comparison to the Commission, which shall include it in the report referred to in Article 45.
Regulation (EU) No 1075/2013 of the European Central Bank of 18 October 2013 concerning statistics on the assets and liabilities of financial vehicle corporations engaged in securitisation transactions (OJ L 297, 7.11.2013, p. 107).