Key Benefits:
The Prime Minister,
On the report of the Minister of Budget, Public Accounts and State Reform,
Vu le Code of Criminal Procedure ;
Vu la Act No. 2010-476 of 12 May 2010 relative to the opening to competition and regulation of the game of money and online chance sector;
The State Council (Finance Section) heard,
Decrete:
The opening of the sanction procedure is decided by the college of the Autorité de regulation des jeux en ligne.
Notification of grievances is addressed to the online gaming or betting operator called into question or to its representative in France scheduled for the fifth paragraph of Article 16 of the Act of 12 May 2010 referred to above, by registered letter with request for notice of receipt, hand-delivered against receipt, act of bailiff or by any other means to reach the date of receipt, including electronically.
The notification of the grievances indicates that any new notification will be made to the operator concerned at the address to which the notification of the grievances has been received, unless it reports a new address to the Online Gaming Regulatory Authority, by registered letter with request for a notice of receipt.
Notification of grievances indicates the penalties incurred.
It is transmitted to the president of the sanctions commission.
The operator in question has a period of one month to transmit to the Chair of the Sanctions Commission, by any means to reach the date of receipt, including electronically, his written comments on the grievances that were notified to him. The notification of the grievances mentions this time limit and specifies that the operator can read and copy the other documents in the file to the sanctions committee and be assisted or represented by any counsel of his or her choice.
At the same time, the operator legal entity shall notify the president of the sanctions commission of the name of the person authorized to represent it legally before the commission. This person may only be his or her social representative, one of the leaders whom she has designated in her application for approval, or the representative in France scheduled to attend. fifth paragraph of Article 16 of the Act of 12 May 2010 referred to above.
Upon receipt of the notification of the grievances, the chair of the sanctions commission designates a rapporteur, chosen from among the members of the commission, and notifies this designation, by any means allowing to reach the date of receipt, including electronically, to the operator involved and to the president of the Online Gaming Regulatory Authority.
The operator involved may be heard by the rapporteur during the investigation phase. His hearing gave rise to the establishment of a report, which he signed. In case of refusal to sign, reference is made by the rapporteur. The rapporteur may hear any other person whose hearing seems useful to him. The persons heard may be assisted by the board of their choice.
When he considers that the grievances must be completed, the rapporteur seizes the College of the Online Gaming Regulatory Authority, which decides on this request within one month.
The rapporteur submits his report of instruction to the president of the sanctions commission within two months of his appointment. The report is communicated, by any means to reach the reception, including by electronic means, to the involved operator and the College of the Online Gaming Regulatory Authority. Upon the request of the rapporteur, the chair of the sanctions committee may grant an additional period of one month for the filing of the investigation report.
The operator involved as well as the Online Gaming Regulatory Authority have a one-month period to transmit their written comments to the sanctions commission, by any means that can be reached from the date of receipt, including electronically.
If the investigation report concludes that there is no breach or termination of the breach, the sanctions commission may at any time terminate the proceedings by a reasoned decision.
This decision refers to the names of the members who have decided and indicates the avenues and deadlines for appeal. It is signed by the president of the sanctions commission and notified to the concerned operator as well as to the president of the Online Gaming Control Authority, by registered letter with request for notice of receipt, hand-delivered against receipt, act of bailiff or by any means to reach the date of receipt, including electronically.
The president of the Authority reports to the college.
The operator involved is summoned to the sanctions commission by registered letter with a request for a notice of receipt, hand-delivered against receipt, by act of bail or by any means allowing to reach the reception, including electronically, within a period not less than thirty days. This notification mentions the names of the members of the sanctions commission to deliberate. A copy of this summons is communicated to the president of the Online Gaming Control Authority by any means to attest to the date of receipt, including electronically.
The member of the sanctions commission who assumes in his person a cause of recusal or believes in conscience must abstain does not sit.
The concerned operator who wishes to challenge a member of the commission shall, barely irreceivable, file the application, if it is the rapporteur, within one month of the notification of the decision making the appointment of the commission, and if it is a member of the commission called to deliberate, within fifteen days of the notification of the composition of the commission.
In the event that the reason for the objection could not be known to the person questioned within the time limits set out in the preceding paragraph, the application may be filed until the end of the sitting provided for in section 4.
Notifications to the operator under Articles 4 and 7 recall the provisions of this Article and Article 10.
The request for recusal is addressed to the chair of the commission by registered letter with a request for notice of receipt. It must, barely unreceivable, accurately state the reasons for the application and be accompanied by the evidence to justify it.
The request for recusal is communicated to the member who is the subject of the request. As soon as it has been communicated, the member will abstain until it has been decided on the application. Within eight days of this communication, he makes known in writing, either his acquiescence to the recusal, or the reasons for his opposition.
If the recused member acquires the application, the member shall not participate in the proceedings.
If the recused member fails to comply with the request, the Board shall decide. The applicant shall be informed by any means of the date on which it will be examined and of the possibility that it will have to make oral submissions. The commission shall rule without the participation of that of its members whose recusal is requested. If he is not the recused member, the rapporteur participates in deliberation.
The Commission's decision is notified to the applicant and to the interested member.
If the member concerned is the rapporteur and accepts the request for recusal or is entitled to it, the member shall be replaced by the chair of the commission.
The actions performed by the member who had been challenged before he was aware of the application for recusal cannot be challenged.
The Board's decision can only be contested on the occasion of the appeal against the ruling on grievances.
The operator involved may request that the hearing be not public.
The chair of the commission may prohibit the public from accessing the room for all or part of the session, in the interest of morality or public order, or when the protection of business secrets or any other secret protected by law requires it.
The chair of the commission ensures the police of the meeting. He may make any person to whom he or she considers the hearing useful.
At the meeting, the rapporteur introduced his report. The College of the Online Gaming Regulatory Authority is represented by a member of the college or staff of the Authority designated for this purpose by the President of the Authority. The representative of the College, or his counsel, may present comments in support of the grievances notified. The operator involved, if any, of his counsel shall present his defence. The President of the Sanctions Commission may make any person to whom he or she considers appropriate hearing. In all cases, the operator involved and, if necessary, his counsel are invited to resume the speech before the commission deliberates the matter.
When the sanctions commission considers itself insufficiently enlightened, it may ask the rapporteur to continue his diligence.
The meeting secretary shall prepare a record of the meeting. It is signed by the chair of the sanctions commission, the rapporteur and the secretary of the meeting and then transmitted to the members of the commission.
The Sanctions Commission deliberates on the grievances before it in the sole presence of its members and a service officer of the Online Gaming Regulatory Authority acting as a sitting secretary, outside the presence of the rapporteur and the representative of the college.
The decision sets out the legal and factual considerations on which it is based. It refers to the names of the members who have decided and indicates the avenues and deadlines for appeal. It is signed by the president of the sanctions commission and notified to the concerned operator as well as to the president of the Online Gaming Control Authority, by registered letter with request for notice of receipt, hand-delivered against receipt, act of bailiff or by any means to reach the date of receipt, including electronically.
The decision mentions those of the procedural costs that are at the expense of the operator against which a sanction was pronounced.
The decision is published within fifteen days of its pronouncement on the website of the Online Gaming Regulatory Authority. In this publication, the information for which a confidential treatment decision was made by the chairman of the commission under section 19 is obscured. Unless the decision makes one of the sanctions provided for in the VII of section 43 of the Act of 12 May 2010 referred to above, mentions allowing the identification of the operator or other relevant natural or legal persons are also occulted.
The information for which a confidential treatment decision has been taken by the chairman of the commission is also hidden for the application, if any, of provisions of Article 43 of the Act of 12 May 2010 referred to above.
The president of the AMF reports the decision to the college.
When an interested person requests, pursuant to second paragraph of Article 43 of the Act of 12 May 2010 referred to above, the protection of the secrecy of cases in respect of elements communicated by it to the Online Gaming Regulatory Authority, it shall indicate by registered letter with request for notice of receipt, for each information, document or part of the document in question, on the occasion of its communication to the sanctions committee, the object and the reasons for its application. It provides separately a non-confidential version and a summary of each of these elements.
This request must be submitted to the Authority within one month of the date on which the said elements were obtained by the Authority. In the event of an emergency, this period may be reduced by the president of the sanctions commission, without being less than 48 hours. In this case, the application for protection may be submitted by any means.
When the investigation of the case reveals that information, documents or parts of documents that may put into play the secret of cases could not be the subject of a request for protection by a person who may avail himself of this secret, the rapporteur invites the person to apply, if he wishes, in the form and time conditions mentioned in the first paragraph.
The information, documents or parts of documents for which an application for protection under the secrecy of cases has not been filed are deemed not to involve the confidentiality of cases.
In the course of the investigation, the rapporteur examines, before the relevant elements of the file are made accessible or communicated, the requests for protection of business secrets that have been formulated.
The Chair of the Sanctions Commission shall notify the applicant of a decision to confidentially process information, documents or parts of documents that are considered to involve the confidentiality of cases. Only the non-confidential version and the summary of these elements referred to in Article 17 may be disclosed. Proceedings shall be based on the decision of the President of the sanctions commission.
The President of the Sanctions Commission may also reject the application in whole or in part if it has not been submitted in accordance with the provisions of Article 17 or if it is manifestly unfounded.
If the rapporteur considers that one or more pieces in their confidential version are necessary for the exercise of the rights of the concerned operator's defence or the needs of the debate before the commission, he shall inform the person by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt of the request for protection of the secrecy of the cases contained in these documents and shall set a time limit for submission of his comments before the president of the sanctions commission decides. The decision of the chair of the sanctions commission is notified to interested persons.
If the operator in question considers that a piece in its confidential version is necessary for the exercise of its rights, the operator may request the communication or consultation by submitting a reasoned request to the rapporteur as soon as he becomes aware of the non-confidential version and the summary of the document. It is then proceeded as in the previous paragraph.
If the Chair of the Sanctions Commission authorizes the communication of a document in its confidential version, pursuant to Article 20, it may, if necessary, set a time limit for discussion of newly disclosed information, documents or parts of documents. These elements can only be used as part of the procedure before the Online Gaming Regulatory Authority and possible remedies against the decisions of the Online Gaming Authority.
Decisions on the protection of the secrecy of cases taken by the president of the sanctions commission can only be contested on the occasion of the appeal against the ruling on grievances.
When a notification is made by a judicial officer pursuant to this decree, the court shall proceed in accordance with the procedure provided for in Articles 555 to 563 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The remuneration of judicial officers is tariffed as provided for in sections R. 181 to R. 185 of the same code.
The Minister of Budget, Public Accounts and State Reform is responsible for the execution of this decree, which will be published in the Official Journal of the French Republic.
Done in Paris, May 14, 2010.
François Fillon
By the Prime Minister:
Minister of Budget, Public Accounts
and state reform,
François Baroin
