Cap. 647 чл. 11Application for authorisation.

(1) The provisions of this article shall only apply when

Malta is the home Member State.

(2) Legal persons or other undertakings that intend to offer to the public or seek the admission to trading of asset-referenced tokens shall submit their application for an authorisation as referred to in article 9 to the competent authority.

(3) Without prejudice to Article 18(6) and (7) of the MICA Regulation, the application referred to in sub-article (2) shall contain all of the following information:

(a) the address of the applicant;

(b) the legal entity identifier of the applicant;

(c) the articles of association of the applicant, where applicable;

(d) a programme of operations, setting out the business model that the applicant intends to follow;

(e) a legal opinion that the asset-referenced token does not qualify as either of the following:

(i) a crypto-asset excluded from the scope of the MiCA Regulation, this Act and any regulations made, and Rules issued thereunder pursuant to Article 2(4) of the MiCA Regulation and article 3(3) of this Act; or

(ii) an e-money token;

(f) a detailed description of the applicant’s governance arrangements as referred to in Article 34(1) of the MiCA Regulation;

(g) where cooperation arrangements with specific crypto-asset service providers exist, a description of their internal control mechanisms and procedures to ensure compliance with the obligations in relation to the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing under Directive (EU) 2015/849;

(h) the identity of the members of the management body of the applicant;

(i) proof that the persons referred to in paragraph

(h) are of sufficiently good repute and possess the appropriate knowledge, skills and experience to manage the applicant;

(j) proof that any shareholder or member, whether direct or indirect, that has a qualifying holding in the applicant is of sufficiently good repute;

(k) a crypto-asset white paper as referred to in Article 19 of the MiCA Regulation;

(l) the policies and procedures referred to in the first sub-paragraph of Article 34(5) of the MiCA Regulation;

(m) a description of the contractual arrangements with the third-party entities as referred to in the second sub-paragraph of Article 34(5) of the MiCA Regulation;

(n) a description of the applicant’s business continuity policy referred to in Article 34(9) of the MiCA Regulation;

(o) a description of the internal control mechanisms and risk management procedures referred to in Article 34(10) of the MiCA Regulation;

(p) a description of the systems and procedures in place to safeguard the availability, authenticity, integrity and confidentiality of data as referred to in Article 34(11) of the MiCA Regulation;

(q) a description of the applicant’s complaints-handling procedures as referred to in Article 31 of the MiCA Regulation; and

(r) where applicable, a list of host Member States where the applicant intends to offer the asset-referenced token to the public or intends to seek admission to trading of the asset- referenced token.

(4) For the purposes of sub-article (3)(i) and (j), the applicant shall provide proof of all of the following:

(a) for all members of the management body, the absence of a criminal record in respect of convictions or the absence of penalties imposed under the applicable commercial law, insolvency law and financial services law, or in relation to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing, to fraud or to professional liability;

(b) that the members of the management body of the applicant of the asset-referenced token collectively possess the appropriate knowledge, skills and experience to manage the issuer of the asset-referenced token and that such persons are required to commit sufficient time to perform their duties; and

(c) for all shareholders and members, whether direct or indirect, that have qualifying holdings in the applicant, the absence of a criminal record in respect of convictions and the absence of penalties imposed under the applicable commercial law, insolvency law and financial services law, or in relation to anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing, to fraud or to professional liability.

(5) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-article (3), issuers that have already been authorised in respect of one (1) asset-referenced token shall not be required to submit, for the purposes of authorisation in respect of another asset-referenced token, any information that was previously submitted by them to the competent authority where such information would be identical:

Provided that when submitting the information listed in sub-article (3), the issuer shall expressly confirm that any information not resubmitted is still up to date.

(6) The competent authority shall promptly, and in any event within two (2) working days of receipt of an application referred to in sub-article (2), acknowledge receipt thereof in writing to the applicant.

(7) The competent authority shall, within twenty-five (25) working days of receipt of the application referred to in sub-article (2), assess whether that application, including the crypto-asset white paper referred to in Article 19 of the MiCA Regulation, comprises all of the required information and it shall immediately notify the applicant whether the application, including the crypto-asset white paper, is missing required information:

Provided that where the application, including the crypto-asset white paper, is not complete, the competent authority shall set a deadline by which the applicant is to provide any missing information.

(8) The competent authority shall, within sixty (60) working days of receipt of a complete application, assess whether the applicant complies with the requirements of Title III of the MiCA Regulation and the provisions of this Part, and prepare a fully reasoned draft decision granting or refusing authorisation to offer asset-referenced tokens to the public or seek their admission to trading:

Provided that, within the period referred to in this sub-article, the competent authority may request from the applicant any information on the application, including on the crypto-asset white paper referred in Article 19 of the MiCA Regulation:

Provided further that for the purposes of the assessment to be carried out in accordance with this sub-article, the competent authority may cooperate with competent authorities for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing, financial intelligence units or other public bodies.

(9) The assessment periods referred to in sub-articles (7) and

(8) shall be suspended for the period between the date of request for missing information by the competent authority and the receipt by the said competent authority of a response from the applicant:

Provided that the suspension referred to in this sub-article shall not exceed twenty (20) working days.

(10) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-article (9), any further requests by the competent authority for completion or clarification of the information provided in terms of this article shall be at its discretion but shall not result in a suspension of the assessment periods set out in sub-articles (7) and (8).

(11) The competent authority shall, after the period referred to in sub-article (8), transmit its draft decision as referred to in the said sub-article and the relative application to the EBA, ESMA and the ECB:

Provided that where an official currency of a Member State that is not the euro is referenced by the asset-referenced token, the competent authority shall also transmit its draft decision and the application to the central bank of such Member State.

(12) The opinion to be issued by the EBA and ESMA respectively, at the request of the competent authority, as regards their evaluation of the legal opinion referred to in Article 18(2)(e) of the MiCA Regulation and sub-article (3)(e), shall be transmitted to the competent authority within twenty (20) working days of receipt of the draft decision referred to in sub-article (8) and the relative application.

(13) The opinion to be issued by the ECB or, where applicable, the central bank referred to in sub-article (11) as regards its evaluation of the risks that issuing such asset-referenced token might pose to financial stability, the smooth operation of payment systems, monetary policy transmission and monetary sovereignty, in accordance with Article 21(5) of the MiCA Regulation, shall be transmitted to the competent authority within twenty (20) working days of receipt of the draft decision referred to in sub-article (8) and the relative application.

(14) Without prejudice to the provisions of sub-article (11), the opinions referred to in sub-articles (12) and (13) shall be non-binding:

Provided that the competent authority shall duly consider the opinions referred to in this sub-article.

(15) The competent authority shall, within twenty-five (25) working days of receipt of the opinions referred to in sub-articles (12) and (13), take a fully reasoned decision to grant or refuse to grant to the applicant authorisation to offer asset-referenced tokens to the public or seek their admission to trading and, within five (5) working days of taking such decision, notify it to the applicant:

Provided that where an applicant is authorised, its crypto-asset white paper shall be deemed to be approved.

(16) In granting an authorisation under this article, the competent authority may subject the issuer of an asset-referenced token to such conditions as it may deem appropriate and having granted such an authorisation, it may from time to time, vary or revoke any condition so imposed or impose new conditions.