French Monetary and Financial Code
In forceI.-The Chairman of the Autorité des marchés financiers shall send a formal notice, by any means capable of establishing the date of receipt, to the following operators:
1° Operators and natural or legal persons offering online investment services that are not authorised pursuant to Article L. 532-1, that are not among the persons mentioned in Article L. 531-2 and that do not fall within the scope of Articles L. 532-16 to L. 532-22;
1° bis Operators offering online investment or collective investment management services not authorised pursuant to Article L. 532-9 and not falling within the scope of Articles L. 532-20-1 to L. 532-21-3;
2° Operators offering online financial instruments within the meaning of Article L. 211-1 who meet the following conditions:
a) They are not authorised under article L. 532-1, are not among the persons mentioned in article L. 531-2 and do not fall within the scope of articles L. 532-16 to L. 532-22 ;
b) They are not approved as providers of participative finance services in accordance with Articles L. 547-1 and L. 547-6;
3° Operators offering the public to subscribe to life annuities or to acquire rights under the conditions set out in 1° of I or II of Article L. 551-1 without having submitted the documents referred to in Article L. 551-3 to the AMF for review prior to any promotional communication or canvassing;
4° Operators falling within the scope of Article L. 54-10-3 who are not registered with the Autorité des marchés financiers under the conditions set out in the same Article L. 54-10-3;
5° Operators providing services based on digital assets within the meaning of Article L. 54-10-2 who disseminate information containing inaccurate or misleading information or use a name, company name, advertising or any other process that gives the impression that they are authorised under the conditions provided for in Article L. 54-10-5;
6° Operators offering to the public tokens within the meaning of Article L. 552-3 who disseminate information containing inaccurate or misleading information or use a name, company name, advertising or any other process that leads to the belief that they have obtained the approval provided for in Article L. 552-4;
7° Operators providing advisory services within the meaning of Article L. 541-1 who do not comply with the conditions set out in Articles L. 541-2 to L. 541-7;
8° Natural or legal persons promoting online the offers provided for in 1° to 7° of this I.
The formal notice shall specify the penalties incurred by the operators mentioned in the same 1° to 7° and by the persons mentioned in 8° of this I under Chapters II and III of Title VII of Book V and II of this article. The operator is enjoined to comply with the prohibition applicable to it and to submit its observations within five days of receipt of the formal notice.
II - It shall also send a copy of the formal notice provided for in I of this Article to the persons mentioned in 2 of I of Article 6 of Law no. 2004-575 of 21 June 2004 for confidence in the digital economy, by any means capable of establishing the date of receipt, and shall order them to take any measure capable of preventing access to the content of the online public communication service offered by an operator mentioned in I. The said persons shall be invited to present their observations within five days of receipt of the formal notice. These persons are invited to present their observations within a period of five days.
III.At the end of the periods referred to in I and II of this article, if the injunctions provided for in I and II have not been complied with, or if the unlawful online offer remains accessible, the Chairman of the AMF may refer the matter to the President of the Paris Court of First Instance, ruling under the accelerated procedure on the merits, for the purpose of ordering the cessation of access to this service by the persons mentioned in Article 6(1)(I) of the aforementioned Act no. 2004-575 of 21 June 2004 or the cessation of any online promotion of the offers provided for in 1° to 7° of I of this Article.
It may also refer the matter to the President of the Paris Court of First Instance for the same purpose if the offer remains accessible, notwithstanding any compliance by the persons mentioned in II of this article, without having to issue new injunctions of the same nature.
The Chairman of the Autorité des marchés financiers may petition the President of the Paris Tribunal judiciaire for the same purpose if the online public communication service is accessible from other addresses.
