Information and Examinations

(1) An institution or a superordinate undertaking, and the agents and e-money agents acting for the institution, its branches and outsourcing undertakings, as well as central contact persons, and all members of their governing bodies and employees, must, on request, give BaFin, the persons and bodies BaFin engages to perform its tasks, and the Deutsche Bundesbank, information on all business matters, produce documents and, where necessary, make copies; members of a governing body and employees must, on request, also give information after leaving the governing body, the institution or the undertaking. BaFin or the Deutsche Bundesbank may, in requests for information or production under this provision, require electronic submission and may lay down more detailed provisions on the manner of transmission. BaFin may, even without particular cause, conduct examinations at the institutions, their branches, agents and e-money agents, and outsourcing undertakings, and may transfer the conduct of the examinations to the Deutsche Bundesbank. The staff of BaFin, of the Deutsche Bundesbank, and other persons whom BaFin engages to conduct the examinations, may for that purpose enter and inspect the premises of the institution, the branch, the agent or e-money agent, or the outsourcing undertaking, during usual business hours. To avert imminent dangers to public safety, they are authorised to enter and inspect these premises also outside usual business hours, and to enter and inspect premises also used as a dwelling; the fundamental right to inviolability of the home (Article 13(1) of the Basic Law) is restricted to that extent. Those affected must tolerate measures under the third to fifth sentences.
(2) BaFin and the Deutsche Bundesbank may send representatives to general meetings, shareholders' meetings or members' meetings, and to meetings of the administrative and supervisory bodies. These representatives may speak at the meeting. Those affected must tolerate measures under the first and second sentences.
(3) Institutions must, on BaFin's request, convene the meetings referred to in subsection (2), first sentence, convene meetings of the administrative and supervisory bodies, and announce items for resolution. BaFin may send representatives to a meeting convened under the first sentence; these may speak at the meeting. Those affected must tolerate measures under the first and second sentences. Subsection (2) remains unaffected.
(4) A person required to give information may refuse to answer questions the answering of which would expose that person, or one of the relatives named in section 383(1), nos. 1 to 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure, to the risk of criminal prosecution or of proceedings under the Regulatory Offences Act.
(5) The staff of BaFin and of the Deutsche Bundesbank may search the premises of the undertakings required under subsection (1), first sentence, to give information and produce documents, and of their governing body members, including after they have left, where facts justify the assumption that the undertaking or the governing body member is impairing, endangering or delaying, contrary to a provision of this Act or an enforceable individual order made on the basis of this Act, the clarification of a matter relevant to a decision for supervisory purposes under this Act, by 1. failing to provide particulars, or providing them incorrectly, incompletely or not in time, or 2. failing to produce documents, or producing them incorrectly, incompletely or not in time. Searches must, except where there is danger in delay, be ordered by the judge. Where there is danger in delay, the officer in charge of the operation at BaFin may order the search, provided more than an insignificant delay is not to be expected. Searches of premises used as a dwelling must always be ordered by the judge. The fundamental right to inviolability of the home (Article 13(1) of the Basic Law) is restricted to that extent. The local court in whose district the premises are located has jurisdiction. An appeal lies against the judicial decision; sections 306 to 310 and 311a of the Code of Criminal Procedure apply correspondingly. A record must be made of the search. It must state the responsible office, the reason, time and place of the search and its outcome, and, where no judicial order was made, also the facts that justified the assumption of danger in delay. Those affected must tolerate measures under the first sentence.
(6) The staff of BaFin and of the Deutsche Bundesbank may seize items that may be of importance as evidence for establishing the facts. Where items are no longer required for the administrative proceedings, they are returned to the last person from whose custody they were taken. Those affected must tolerate measures under the first sentence.