Article 16b
Questions and answers
1.
Without prejudice to paragraph 5 of this Article, questions relating to the practical application or implementation of the provisions of legislative acts referred to in Article 1(2), associated delegated and implementing acts, and guidelines and recommendations, adopted pursuant to those legislative acts, may be submitted by any natural or legal person, including competent authorities and Union institutions and bodies, to the Authority in any official language of the Union.
Before submitting a question to the Authority, financial institutions shall consider whether to address the question in the first place to their competent authority.
Before publishing answers to admissible questions, the Authority may seek further clarification on questions asked by the natural or legal person referred to in this paragraph.
2.
Answers by the Authority to questions as referred to in paragraph 1 shall be non-binding. Answers shall be made available at least in the language in which the question was submitted.
3.
The Authority shall establish and maintain a web-based tool available on its website for the submission of questions and the timely publication of all questions received as well as all answers to all admissible questions pursuant to paragraph 1, unless such publication is in conflict with the legitimate interest of those persons or would involve risks to the stability of the financial system. The Authority may reject questions it does not intend to answer. Rejected questions shall be published by the Authority on its website for a period of two months.
4.
Three voting members of the Board of Supervisors may request the Board of Supervisors to decide pursuant to Article 44 whether to address the issue of the admissible question referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article in guidelines pursuant to Article 16, to request advice from the Stakeholder Group referred to in Article 37, to review questions and answers at appropriate intervals, to conduct open public consultations or to analyse potential related costs and benefits. Such consultations and analyses shall be proportionate in relation to the scope, nature and impact of the draft questions and answers concerned or in relation to the particular urgency of the matter. When involving the Stakeholder Group referred to in Article 37, a duty of confidentiality shall apply.
5.
The Authority shall forward questions that require the interpretation of Union law to the Commission. The Authority shall publish any answers provided by the Commission.