PERG 7.7 Post-certification issues

If a certificate is granted then, until it is revoked, it is conclusive evidence that the exclusion under article 54 of the Regulated Activities Order applies. A person to whom a certificate is given should notify the FCA of any significant changes to the purpose or nature of the content of the relevant publication or service. The FCA will need to keep the content of the publication or service in question under review.

An annual fee of £1,000 will be charged to meet the costs of ongoing monitoring (see SUP 20 Annex 3 R).

The FCA may revoke a certificate at the request of its holder or on the FCA's own initiative if the FCA considers that it is no longer justified. If the FCA revokes a certificate on its own initiative, it would normally expect to give advance notice to the holder of the certificate together with a statement of the reasons for the proposed revocation, and give the holder of the certificate an opportunity to make representations. Where a certificate is revoked, the holder of the certificate, if he is an unauthorised person, will need to consider whether it is appropriate to continue to publish the periodical or provide the service without authorisation or exemption.

The fact of a person holding a certificate granted under article 54(3) is information which may be of relevance to other persons (including investors or potential investors). For this reason, the FCA considers it appropriate that details of certificates granted under article 54(3) should be included in a list on the public record which the FCA is required to maintain under section 347 of the Act (The record of authorised persons, etc).

For further information contact the Perimeter Enquiries Team of the FCA (email: authorisationenquiries@fca.org.uk, Tel 020 7066 0082).