S.L. 376.10 Art. 16Advisory services.

(1) A creditor shall explicitly inform the consumer, in the context of a given transaction, whether advisory services are being or can be provided to the consumer.

(2) Prior to the provision of advisory services or the conclusion of a contract for the provision of such services, creditors and, where applicable, credit intermediaries shall provide the consumer with the following information on paper or another durable medium chosen by the consumer:

(a) an indication of whether the recommendation shall be based on only their own product range or on a wide range of products from across the market in accordance with sub-regulation (3)(c); and

(b) an indication of the fee payable by the consumer for the advisory services or, where the amount of such fee cannot be established at the time when the information is provided, the method used for its calculation, where applicable:

Provided that the aforementioned information may be provided to the consumer in the form of additional pre-contractual information which may be annexed to the form contained in the First Schedule.

(3) Where advisory services are provided to consumers, creditors and where applicable, credit intermediaries shall:

(a) obtain the necessary information regarding the financial situation, preferences and objectives of the consumer, related to the credit agreement, in order for the creditor or the credit intermediary to recommend credit agreements that are suitable to the consumer;

(b) assess the financial situation and the needs of the consumer on the basis of the information referred to in sub-regulation (3)(a), which shall be up to date at the time of the assessment, taking into account reasonable assumptions as to the risks to the financial situation of the consumer over the term of the recommended credit agreement;

(c) consider a sufficiently large number of credit agreements in their product range and on that basis recommend one (1) or more credit agreements from among that product range that are suitable to the consumer’s needs, financial situation and personal circumstances;

(d) act in the best interests of the consumer; and

(e) give the consumer a record of the recommendation provided on paper or on another durable medium chosen by the consumer and specified in the contract for the provision of advisory services.

(4) The use of the terms "advice" and "advisor" or similar terms shall be prohibited when the advisory services are being marketed and provided to consumers by creditors or, where applicable, credit intermediaries.

(5) Creditors and where applicable, credit intermediaries shall warn a consumer when a credit agreement may induce a specific risk for the consumer considering the financial situation of the consumer.

(6) Notwithstanding the fact that advisory services may only be provided by creditors and where applicable, credit intermediaries, other persons may provide advisory services where the advisory services are provided as follows:

(a) in an incidental manner in the course of a professional activity that is regulated by legal or regulatory provisions or a code of ethics which do not exclude the provision of those services;

(b) in the context of management of existing debt by insolvency practitioners and where that management activity is regulated by legal or regulatory provisions;

(c) in the context of management of existing debt by public or voluntary providers of independent debt advisory services which do not operate on a commercial basis; or

(d) by persons that are authorised and supervised by competent authorities.