French Monetary and Financial Code
In forceI.-Any financial investment adviser must become a member of an association responsible for monitoring the individual professional activities of its members, representing them collectively and defending their rights and interests.
II -With a view to the financial investment adviser becoming a member, the association will check that the adviser has a programme of operations.
It shall assess the quality of this programme of operations in the light of the obligations set out in Articles L. 541-2, L. 541-3 and L. 541-8, as well as the conditions under which the financial investment adviser intends to conduct its business.
The programme of operations shall indicate the type of business envisaged and the organisational structure of the financial investment adviser and, where applicable, the identity of its direct or indirect shareholders, whether natural or legal persons, who hold a qualifying holding, and the amount of their holding.
III - The associations referred to in I above are approved by the AMF on the basis of their representativeness and their ability to fulfil their missions.
They must have had the AMF approve the conditions of competence and the code of conduct to which their members are subject.
They must establish written procedures under which they decide on the membership, withdrawal of membership, supervision and sanctioning of their financial investment adviser members.
Withdrawal of membership, as referred to in the previous paragraph, may be decided by the association at the request of the financial investment adviser. It may also be decided ex officio by the association if the financial investment adviser no longer fulfils the conditions or undertakings to which its membership was subject, if it has not commenced business within twelve months of becoming a member, if it has not been in business for at least six months or if it has obtained membership by making false declarations or by any other irregular means.
Any withdrawal of membership is notified to the organisation that keeps the register referred to in article L. 546-1.
When membership is automatically withdrawn, the AMF is notified and the withdrawal takes effect at the end of a period determined by the association.
IV - The legal representatives, directors, employees and agents of the associations referred to in I above are bound by professional secrecy in the context of the monitoring by these associations of the individual professional activities of their members, under the conditions and subject to the penalties laid down in articles 226-13 and 226-14 of the French Penal Code.
This secrecy may not be invoked against the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) or the judicial authorities acting in the context of either criminal proceedings or receivership proceedings instituted against a person referred to in II of article L. 621-9.
By way of derogation from the provisions of II of Article L. 621-4, the Autorité des marchés financiers may communicate to the associations mentioned in I information covered by professional secrecy when such information is useful to the associations in the performance of their duties relating to the monitoring of the individual professional activity of financial investment advisers.
The information gathered in this way is covered by the professional secrecy in force under the conditions applicable to the entity that communicated it and to the entity to which it is sent.
This information may only be used by the entities for the performance of their duties and solely for the purposes for which it was communicated to them.
