Section 1267: Competent Authority’s power to call for information
1621.Section 1267 inserts three new sections into Part 6 of FSMA: sections 89H to 89J.
1622.New section 89H permits the Authority to call for information from specified persons, set out in subsection (2), including issuers of shares and their auditors and directors, and voteholders and their auditors, directors and persons controlling or controlled by voteholders.
1623.Subsection (3) limits the Authority to requesting information and documents reasonably required in connection with the transparency rules. Subsection (4) enables the Authority to determine the timeframe for production and provision of information, and the location for the information to be provided. Subsection (5) makes it clear that the production of the material as required by this section does not affect any lien on a document.
1624.New section 89I sets outs the requirements connected with the Authority’s power to call for information. The Authority will be empowered to specify the form of the information or documents it calls for under section 89H (1), and may require its authentication or verification (subsection (2)). The Authority is permitted, under subsection (3), to take copies of and extracts from the documentation provided, and may also require the persons providing the information, or any “relevant person” within the meaning of subsection (4)(which includes directors, auditors, actuaries, accountants, lawyers and employees), to submit an explanation of any documentation produced.
1625.If a person fails to comply with the requirement to produce a document, the Authority is permitted under subsection (5) to require a person to state where the document is.
1626.New section 89J sets out the supplementary provisions in relation to the competent authority’s power to call for information in sections 89H and 89I.
