French Monetary and Financial Code
In forcePrior to any promotional communication or canvassing, a document must be drawn up, in accordance with the conditions laid down by decree, to provide the public with all relevant information about the proposed transaction, the person who initiated it and the manager.
Where the customer or potential customer has not received the disclosure document prior to entering into the contract, or where the terms of the contract do not comply with the content of the disclosure document, the court may award damages or order that the contract be rescinded.
Draft disclosure documents and draft standard contracts shall be filed with the Autorité des marchés financiers, which shall supervise all the companies involved in the transaction, in accordance with the conditions laid down in this Code, and shall determine whether the transaction meets the minimum guarantees required of a public offering. The AMF shall examine the information document referred to in the first paragraph and determine the guarantees in accordance with the conditions laid down in its General Regulations.
The AMF may limit or specify the terms of promotional communications to take account of the nature of the products and the guarantees offered.
It has two months from the date of submission to make its observations. No promotional communications or canvassing may be undertaken unless the AMF's observations have been complied with. A copy of the documents distributed shall be sent to the Autorité des marchés financiers.
Any person proposing to take the place of the asset manager or the person required to perform the undertakings referred to in 1° of I of Article L. 551-1 must file a draft disclosure document and a draft standard contract with the Autorité des marchés financiers, which shall exercise its control under the conditions set out in the third paragraph above.
In the event of a change in the conditions under which the assets are managed or the commitments are fulfilled, the agreement of the right holders to these changes is validly given only after they have been specifically informed of the proposed changes, their scope and their justification, in a document filed with the Autorité des marchés financiers. The AMF may request that this document be brought into line with its observations.
If the AMF finds that the transaction offered to the public no longer complies with the content of the information document and the standard contract or no longer offers the guarantees provided for in this article, it may order, in a reasoned decision, that any canvassing or promotional communication concerning the transaction be discontinued.
