French Monetary and Financial Code
In forceIf a person referred to in 4° of B of I or II of Article L. 612-2 has breached a European, legislative or regulatory provision that the authority is responsible for ensuring compliance with, or an approved code of conduct applicable to its profession, or has disregarded a warning or failed to comply with a formal notice, the Enforcement Committee may impose one or more of the following disciplinary sanctions on the person or, where applicable, on its directors, partners or third parties with powers to manage or administer, depending on the seriousness of the breach:
1° a warning ;
2° a reprimand
3° A ban on carrying out certain intermediation transactions and any other restrictions on the exercise of this activity;
4° Temporary suspension of one or more directors of the intermediary organisation;
5° the compulsory resignation of one or more directors of the intermediation organisation;
6° Removal from the register referred to in article L. 512-1 of the Insurance Code;
7° A ban on carrying on the business of intermediation.
The duration of the sanctions mentioned in 3°, 4° and 7° may not exceed ten years.
Where the sanction proceedings may result in the imposition of sanctions on senior executives, the AMF panel that decided to initiate the proceedings shall expressly state this in the statement of objections, specifying the grounds on which they may be held directly and personally liable for the breaches or infringements in question, and the Enforcement Committee shall ensure that they are subject to the adversarial nature of the proceedings.
The Enforcement Committee may impose a financial penalty of up to one hundred million euros either in place of, or in addition to, these penalties.
The Enforcement Committee may also impose a penalty payment, the amount of which it sets and the date on which it takes effect. A decree of the Conseil d'Etat sets the applicable procedure, the maximum daily amount of the penalty payment and the procedures for calculating the penalty payment in the event of total or partial non-performance or late performance.
The Enforcement Committee's decision is published in the publications, newspapers or media it designates, in a format commensurate with the offence committed and the penalty imposed. The costs are borne by the persons sanctioned. However, if publication risks seriously disrupting the financial markets or causing disproportionate harm to the parties involved, the Commission's decision may stipulate that it will not be published.
The provisions of the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth and last paragraphs of Article L. 612-39 are applicable to intermediaries in banking and payment services and to the persons mentioned in 1°, 2° and 2° bis of II of Article L. 612-2, without prejudice to the provisions of this Article.
For breaches of the obligations set out in articles L. 516-1, L. 521-1, L. 521-2 to L. 521-6 and L. 522-1 to L. 522-6 of the Insurance Code in connection with the distribution of individual life insurance policies with surrender values, capitalisation policies or optional group policies with a surrender or transfer value referred to in articles L. 132-5-3 of the French Insurance Code, L. 223-8 of the French Mutual Code and L. 932-15 of the French Social Security Code, or contracts mentioned in articles L. 441-1 of the Insurance Code, L. 222-1 of the Mutual Code and L. 932-24 of the Social Security Code, the Enforcement Committee may impose, either instead of or in addition to the penalties referred to in 1° to 7°, a fine not exceeding the highest of the following three ceilings: one hundred million euros, or 5% of annual net sales within the meaning of V of article L. 612-40 or twice the amount of the benefit derived from the breach, if this benefit can be determined.
