Cap. 403 Art. 38AAssessment procedure.

(1) The competent authority shall, promptly and in any event within two working days following receipt of the notification required under article 38(1), as well as following the possible subsequent receipt of the information referred to in sub-article (4), acknowledge receipt thereof in writing to the proposed acquirer.

(2) The competent authority shall have a maximum of sixty working days as from the date of the written acknowledgement of receipt of the notification required under article 38(1) and all documents required by the competent authority to be attached to such notification (hereinafter referred to in this Act as the "assessment period") to carry out an assessment on the basis of such information as may be determined by Insurance Rules issued for this purpose.

(3) The competent authority shall inform the proposed acquirer of the date of the expiry of the assessment period at the time of acknowledging receipt.

(4) The competent authority may, during the assessment period, if necessary and no later than on the fiftieth working day of such period, request any further information that is necessary to complete the assessment. Such a request shall be made in writing and shall specify the additional information needed.

(5) During the period between the date of request for additional information by the competent authority and the receipt of a response thereto by the proposed acquirer, the assessment period shall be interrupted. The interruption period shall not exceed twenty working days. Any further requests by the competent authority for completion or clarification of the information shall be at its discretion but shall not result in an interruption of such assessment period.

(6) The competent authority may extend the interruption period referred to in sub-article (5) up to thirty working days if the proposed acquirer is:

(a) situated or regulated in a non-Member State or non-EEA state; or

(b) a person not subject to supervision under:

(i) Directive 2014/65/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments and amending Directive 2002/92/EC and Directive 2011/61/EU (recast);

(ii) Directive 2013/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 on access to the activity of credit institutions and the prudential supervision of credit institutions and investment firms, amending Directive 2002/ 87/EC and repealing Directives 2006/48/EC and 2006/49/EC;

(iii) Directive 2009/65/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 13 July 2009 on the co-ordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to undertakings for collective investment in transferable securities (UCITS)(recast);

(iv) the Solvency II Directive.

(7) The competent authority shall, upon completion of the assessment referred to in sub-article (2) and not later than the date of the expiry of the assessment period, issue a notice:

(a) granting unconditional approval to the proposed acquisition;

(b) granting approval to the proposed acquisition subject to such conditions as the competent authority may deem appropriate; or

(c) refusing the proposed acquisition.

(8) In making the assessment referred to in sub-article (2), the competent authority shall neither impose any prior conditions in respect of the level of shareholding that must be acquired nor examine the proposed acquisition in terms of the economic needs of the market.

(9) The competent authority may refuse the proposed acquisition only if there are reasonable grounds for doing so on the basis of the criteria set out in the Insurance Rules referred to in article 38(1) or if the information provided by the proposed acquirer is incomplete.

(10) If the competent authority decides to refuse the proposed acquisition, it shall, within two working days, and not exceeding the assessment period, inform the proposed acquirer in writing specifying the reasons for such decision. The competent authority may, whether at the request of such proposed acquirer or not, issue a public statement indicating such reasons.

(11) If the competent authority does not refuse the proposed acquisition in writing within the assessment period, such proposed acquisition shall be deemed to be approved.

(12) Without prejudice to any other measure which may be taken under this Act, where a qualifying shareholding in an authorised insurance or reinsurance undertaking is acquired notwithstanding the refusal of the competent authority, the exercise of the corresponding voting rights shall be suspended and any of the votes cast in contravention of this article shall be null and void.

(13) The competent authority may fix a maximum period for concluding the proposed acquisition and extend it where appropriate.

(14) Notwithstanding the provisions of sub-articles (1) to (6), where two or more proposals to acquire or increase qualifying shareholdings in the same authorised insurance or reinsurance undertaking have been notified to the competent authority, the latter shall treat the proposed acquirers in a non-discriminatory manner.