Article 35
Agreements with countries and territories which do not form part of the territory of the Union
1. The Commission may authorise any Member State to conclude an agreement with a third country or with a territory outside the territorial scope of the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) as referred to in Article 355 TFEU (the ‘country or territory concerned’), which contains derogations from this Regulation, in order to allow transfers of funds between that country or territory and the Member State concerned to be treated as transfers of funds within that Member State.
Such agreements may be authorised only where all of the following conditions are met:
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(a) |
the country or territory concerned shares a monetary union with the Member State concerned, forms part of the currency area of that Member State or has signed a monetary convention with the Union represented by a Member State; |
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(b) |
payment service providers in the country or territory concerned participate directly or indirectly in payment and settlement systems in that Member State; |
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(c) |
the country or territory concerned requires payment service providers under its jurisdiction to apply the same rules as those established under this Regulation. |
2. A Member State wishing to conclude an agreement as referred to in paragraph 1 shall submit a request to the Commission and provide it with all the information necessary for the appraisal of the request.
3. Upon receipt by the Commission of such a request, transfers of funds between that Member State and the country or territory concerned shall be provisionally treated as transfers of funds within that Member State until a decision is reached in accordance with this Article.
4. If, within two months of receipt of the request, the Commission considers that it does not have all the information necessary for the appraisal of the request, it shall contact the Member State concerned and specify the additional information required.
5. Within one month of receipt of all the information that it considers to be necessary for the appraisal of the request, the Commission shall notify the requesting Member State accordingly and shall transmit copies of the request to the other Member States.
6. Within three months of the notification referred to in paragraph 5 of this Article, the Commission shall decide by means of an implementing act in accordance with Article 34(2) whether to authorise the Member State concerned to conclude the agreement that is the subject of the request.
The Commission shall, in any event, adopt a decision as referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph within 18 months of receipt of the request.