Article 46
General provisions
1.
A third-country firm may provide investment services or perform investment activities with or without any ancillary services to eligible counterparties and to professional clients within the meaning of Section I of Annex II to Directive 2014/65/EU established throughout the Union without the establishment of a branch where it is registered in the register of third-country firms kept by ESMA in accordance with Article 47.
2.
ESMA shall register a third-country firm that has applied for the provision of investment services or performance of activities throughout the Union in accordance with paragraph 1 only where the following conditions are met:
(a)
the Commission has adopted a decision in accordance with Article 47(1);
(b)
the firm is authorised in the jurisdiction where its head office is established to provide the investment services or activities to be provided in the Union and it is subject to effective supervision and enforcement ensuring a full compliance with the requirements applicable in that third country;
(c)
cooperation arrangements have been established pursuant to Article 47(2);
(d)
the firm has established the necessary arrangements and procedures to report the information set out in paragraph 6a.
3.
Where a third-country firm is registered in accordance with this Article, Member States shall not impose any additional requirements on the third-country firm in respect of matters covered by this Regulation or by Directive 2014/65/EU and shall not treat third-country firms more favourably than Union firms.
4.
The third-country firm referred to in paragraph 1 shall submit its application to ESMA after the adoption by the Commission of the decision referred to in Article 47 determining that the legal and supervisory framework of the third country in which the third-country firm is authorised is equivalent to the requirements described in Article 47(1).
The applicant third-country firm shall provide ESMA with all information necessary for its registration. Within 30 working days of receipt of the application, ESMA shall assess whether the application is complete. If the application is not complete, ESMA shall set a deadline by which the applicant third-country firm is to provide additional information.
The registration decision shall be based on the conditions set out in paragraph 2.
Within 180 working days of the submission of a complete application, ESMA shall inform the applicant third-country firm in writing with a fully reasoned explanation whether the registration has been granted or refused.
Member States may allow third‐country firms to provide investment services to, or to perform investment activities together with ancillary services for, eligible counterparties and professional clients within the meaning of Section I of Annex II to Directive 2014/65/EU in their territories in accordance with national regimes where no Commission decision in accordance with Article 47(1) has been adopted or where such a decision has been adopted but either is no longer in effect or does not cover the services or activities concerned.
5.
Third-country firms providing services in accordance with this Article shall inform clients established in the Union, before the provision of any investment services, that they are not allowed to provide services to clients other than eligible counterparties and professional clients within the meaning of Section I of Annex II to Directive 2014/65/EU and that they are not subject to supervision in the Union. They shall indicate the name and the address of the competent authority responsible for supervision in the third country.
The information in the first subparagraph shall be provided in writing and in a prominent way.
Member States shall ensure that where an eligible counterparty or professional client within the meaning of Section I of Annex II to Directive 2014/65/EU established or situated in the Union initiates at its own exclusive initiative the provision of an investment service or activity by a third‐country firm, this Article does not apply to the provision of that service or activity by the third‐country firm to that person, including a relationship specifically related to the provision of that service or activity. Without prejudice to intragroup relationships, where a third‐country firm, including through an entity acting on its behalf or having close links with such third‐country firm or any other person acting on behalf of such entity, solicits clients or potential clients in the Union, it shall not be deemed to be a service provided at the own exclusive initiative of the client. An initiative by such clients shall not entitle the third‐country firm to market new categories of investment products or investment services to that individual.
6.
Third-country firms providing services or performing activities in accordance with this Article shall, before providing any service or performing any activity in relation to a client established in the Union, offer to submit any disputes relating to those services or activities to the jurisdiction of a court or arbitral tribunal in a Member State.
6a.
Third‐country firms providing services or performing activities in accordance with this Article shall, on an annual basis, inform ESMA of the following:
(a)
the scale and scope of the services and activities carried out by the firms in the Union, including the geographical distribution across Member States;
(b)
for firms performing the activity referred to in point (3) of Section A of Annex I to Directive 2014/65/EU, their monthly minimum, average and maximum exposure to EU counterparties;
(c)
for firms providing services referred to in point (6) of Section A of Annex I to Directive 2014/65/EU, the total value of financial instruments originating from EU counterparties underwritten or placed on a firm commitment basis over the previous 12 months;
(d)
the turnover and the aggregated value of the assets corresponding to the services and activities referred to in point (a);
(e)
whether investor protection arrangements have been taken, and a detailed description thereof;
(f)
the risk management policy and arrangements applied by the firm to the carrying out of the services and activities referred to in point (a);
(g)
the governance arrangements, including key function holders for the activities of the firm in the Union;
(h)
any other information necessary to enable ESMA or the competent authorities to carry out their tasks in accordance with this Regulation.
ESMA shall communicate the information received in accordance with this paragraph to the competent authorities of the Member States where a third‐country firm provides investment services or performs investment activities in accordance with this Article.
Where necessary for the accomplishment of the tasks of ESMA or the competent authorities in accordance with this Regulation, ESMA may, including upon the request of the competent authority of the Member States where a third‐country firm provides investment services or performs investment activities in accordance with this Article, ask third‐country firms providing services or performing activities in accordance with this Article to provide any further information in respect of their operations.
6b.
Where a third‐country firm provides services or performs activities in accordance with this Article, it shall keep, at the disposal of ESMA, the data relating to all orders and all transactions in the Union in financial instruments which they have carried out, whether on own account or on behalf of a client, for a period of five years.
Upon the request of the competent authority of a Member State, where a third‐country firm provides investment services or performs investment activities in accordance with this Article, ESMA shall access the relevant data kept at its disposal in accordance with the first subparagraph and shall make that data available to the requesting competent authority.
6c.
Where a third‐country firm does not cooperate in an investigation or an on‐site inspection carried out in accordance with Article 47(2), or where it does not comply with a request from ESMA in accordance with paragraph 6a or 6b of this Article in due time and in a proper manner, ESMA may withdraw its registration or temporarily prohibit or restrict its activities in accordance with Article 49.
7.
ESMA, in consultation with EBA, shall develop draft regulatory technical standards to specify the information that the applicant third-country firm is to provide in the application for registration referred to in paragraph 4 and the information to be reported in accordance with paragraph 6a.
ESMA shall submit those draft regulatory technical standards to the Commission by 26 September 2020.
Power is delegated to the Commission to supplement this Regulation by adopting the regulatory technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph in accordance with Articles 10 to 14 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.
8.
ESMA shall develop draft implementing technical standards to specify the format in which the application for registration referred to in paragraph 4 is to be submitted and the information referred to in paragraph 6a is to be reported.
ESMA shall submit those draft implementing technical standards to the Commission by 26 September 2020.
Power is conferred on the Commission to supplement this Regulation by adopting the implementing technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph in accordance with Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.