TAKE NOTICE THAT:

The DFSA has released the following for consultation:

Consultation Paper No. 149 – Fixed Penalty Notices

The deadline for providing comments on this Consultation Paper is 17 July 2023.

PREFACE

Why are we issuing this paper?

1. This Consultation Paper (CP) seeks public comment on the DFSA’s proposals to introduce a fixed penalty regime to deal with certain breaches of prescribed provisions of legislation administered by the DFSA. As part of this CP, we are proposing to apply this regime to breaches of certain reporting requirements (i.e., failure to submit regulatory returns by their due date) and, as a second stage, may in due course expand the scope of application to other simple breaches of DFSA legislation.

Who should read this paper?

2. The proposals in this paper will be of interest to Authorised Persons, Designated NonFinancial Businesses and Professions (DNFBPs), Registered Auditors, applicants and their advisers, and other industry participants.

Terminology

3. Defined terms are identified by the capitalisation of the initial letter of a word or of each word in a phrase and are defined in the Glossary Module (GLO). Unless the context otherwise requires, where capitalisation is not used, the expression has its natural meaning.

What are the next steps?

4. Please send comments using the online response form. You will need to identify the organisation you represent in providing your comments. The DFSA reserves the right to publish, including on its website, any comments you provide, unless you expressly request otherwise at the time of making comments. The deadline for providing comments is 17 July 2023.

5. Following public consultation, we expect to proceed to make the relevant changes to the DFSA's Rulebook, amended as appropriate to reflect points raised in consultation. The proposed changes to the Regulatory Law (DIFC Law No. 1 of 2004, “the Regulatory Law”) will be submitted to His Highness the President of the DIFC for his consent that the changes should be passed, for assent, to His Highness the Ruler of Dubai. The final version of the Regulatory Law and the Rulebook modules will be published on our website, and we will issue a notice when this happens.

Structure of this Consultation Paper

6. This Consultation Paper contains:

a) Background;

b) Section 1: Proposals for a fixed penalty regime; c) Section 2: Scope of application;

• Appendix 1: draft amendments to the Regulatory Law (DIFC Law No. 1 of 2004);

• Appendix 2: draft amendments to the GEN (General) module;

• Appendix 3: draft amendments to the FER (Fees) module;

• Appendix 4: draft amendments to the GLO (Glossary) module;

• Appendix 5: draft amendments to RPP Chapter 6 (Penalty Guidance);

and • Annex 1: questions asked in this Consultation Paper.