Cooperation Obligations; Authorisation to Issue Statutory Instruments

(1) An obliged entity, the members of its corporate bodies, and its employees shall, on request and free of charge, 1. provide information on all business matters and transactions, and 2. produce documents relevant to compliance with the requirements laid down in this Act, to the supervisory authority competent under section 50, no. 1, insofar as its supervisory activity relates to the obliged entities referred to in section 50, no. 1, letters g) and h), to the supervisory authority competent under section 50, nos. 3 to 9, and to the persons and bodies which these supervisory authorities engage to perform their tasks. In fulfilling the obligation under the first sentence, no. 2, the obliged entity shall make the documents to be produced available to the authority in original, in the form of copies, or in digital form by electronic means or on a digital storage medium.
(2) In examinations under section 51(3), the staff of the supervisory authority and other persons whom the competent supervisory authority engages to conduct the examinations are permitted to enter and inspect the business premises of the obliged entity during normal business and operating hours.
(3) The persons concerned shall tolerate measures under subsection (2).
(4) A person obliged to provide information may refuse to answer questions the answering of which would expose that person, or a relative referred to in section 383(1), nos. 1 to 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to the danger of criminal prosecution or of proceedings under the Act on Regulatory Offences.
(5) Obliged entities under section 2(1), nos. 10 and 12 may also refuse to answer questions where the questions relate to information they received in the course of activities of legal advice or representation in legal proceedings for the contracting party. The obligation to answer remains where the obliged entity knows that its client is or was using the legal advice for the purpose of money laundering or terrorist financing.
(6) Persons in respect of whom, on account of their business activity, facts justify the assumption that they are obliged entities under section 2(1), shall, on request and free of charge, provide the supervisory authority competent under section 50 with information on all business matters and shall produce documents, insofar as this is necessary to establish their status as obliged entity. Subsection (1), second sentence and subsections (4) and (5) apply correspondingly.
(7) Obliged entities shall report annually to the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, insofar as it is the competent supervisory authority within the meaning of section 50, the information necessary for the purposes of Article 40(1), second subparagraph, letters a) and b) of Directive (EU) 2024/1640 and Article 12(2), in conjunction with Article 15, of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620. Further provisions on the information to be transmitted in detail follow in particular from the technical regulatory and implementing standards to be issued by the Commission under Article 40(2) of Directive (EU) 2024/1640 and Article 12(7) and Article 15(3) of Regulation (EU) 2024/1620, as amended from time to time. The Federal Ministry of Finance may, by statutory instrument, determine that, in addition to the information under the first and second sentences, obliged entities must report information necessary for the risk-based performance of supervision by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority, and may determine the form, scope and timing of the report. The Federal Ministry of Finance may transfer the authorisation under the third sentence, by statutory instrument not requiring the consent of the Bundesrat, to the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority.