French Monetary and Financial Code
In forceI. - The National Sanctions Committee may impose one of the following administrative sanctions:
1° A warning ;
2° a reprimand
3° A temporary ban on exercising the activity or exercising managerial responsibilities within a legal entity exercising this activity for a period not exceeding five years;
4° Withdrawal of authorisation or professional licence.
The penalty provided for in 3° may be suspended. If, within a period of five years from the date on which the sanction was imposed, the person sanctioned commits an offence or misconduct leading to the imposition of a new sanction, this will entail, unless a reasoned decision is taken, the enforcement of the first sanction without any possibility of confusion with the second.
The Commission may impose, either instead of or in addition to these penalties, a fine of up to five million euros or, where the benefit derived from the breach can be determined, twice that amount. The sums are recovered by the Treasury.
In the event that a person referred to in Article L. 561-37 fails to fulfil all or some of its obligations under this Title, the National Enforcement Committee may also sanction the managers of this person and other natural persons employed by, acting on behalf of or acting for this person, for their personal involvement in these breaches.
II. - The amount and type of the sanction imposed under this article are set taking into account, in particular, where applicable:
1° The seriousness and duration of the breaches ;
2° the degree of responsibility of the offender, his financial situation, the size of the gains he has made or the losses he has avoided, his degree of cooperation during the inspection and the proceedings before the Commission, and any previous breaches he has committed;
3° If they can be determined, the damage suffered by third parties as a result of the breaches.
III. - In accordance with the conditions laid down by decree in the Conseil d'Etat, the Commission's decision, any appeal against this decision, the outcome of the appeal and the decision to cancel a sanction previously imposed are made public in the publications, newspapers or media designated by the Commission in a format proportionate to the misconduct committed and the sanction imposed. The costs shall be borne by the persons penalised.
However, the Commission's decisions are published anonymously in the following cases:
1° When publication in a non-anonymous form would compromise an ongoing criminal investigation ;
2° When objective and verifiable evidence provided by the person sanctioned shows that the harm that would result for him or her from publication in a non-anonymous form would be disproportionate.
When the situations mentioned in 1° and 2° are likely to cease to exist within a short period, the Commission may decide to defer publication for this period.
The Commission may decide to charge to the person penalised all or part of the costs incurred by the control measures that enabled the facts penalised to be established.
