THIRD-COUNTRY AUDITORS AND AUDIT ENTITIES – PART A

THIRD-COUNTRY AUDITORS AND AUDIT ENTITIES – PART A

                                                                                                                                     Italian Version

Registration requirements (Article 5, Ministerial Decree 1 September 2022, no. 174)

Registration in Part A is subject to the existence of the following conditions:

• applicant is required to issue the statutory audit opinion concerning the annual accounts or consolidated accounts of the entities referred to Art. 34, par. 1 of Legislative Decree no. 39 of 2010;
• the requesting auditor otherwise, in case of audit entities, the majority of the members of the management bodies and the auditors responsible for the “enabling” engagement (see point 1) must possess the equivalent requirements to those provided for in the articles 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 of Directive 2006/43/EC;
• the “enabling” audit engagement (see point 1) is carried out in accordance with the International Standards of Auditing (ISA) issued by the International Federation of Accountants and in accordance with the independence rules pursuant to Articles 22, 22-ter and 25 of Directive 2006/43/EC, or in compliance with equivalent principles and rules;
• applicant must publish an annual transparency report on own website containing the information required by Art. 13 of Regulation (EU) no. 537/2014 or comply with equivalent disclosure standards;
• the requesting auditor otherwise, in case of audit entities, all the members of the management bodies as well as those responsible for the "qualifying" engagement (see point 1) must possess the integrity requirements certified according to Art. 7 of the third-country Regulation.

Registration terms

The applications forms are sent to the Ministry of Economy and Finance and to Consob for information, and they are examined within the deadline for concluding the procedure established in 180 days from the date of receipt. In the event of deficiencies in the content, the Ministry of Economy and Finance notifies the applicant within 30 days from the receipt, assigning a deadline of no more than 60 days to send the missing documentation. From the date of sending the request for integration and until the date of receipt of these elements, the term of the investigation is suspended. Once this deadline has expired unsuccessfully, the Ministry of Economy and Finance orders the denial of registration with a motivated provision. Registration is established by MEF publishing in the Official Gazette of the Italian Republic - 4th special series "Competitions and exams" and it is notified to the applicant at the address indicated in the application.

Timely Update – Article 3, paragraph 1 of Ministerial Decree 174/2022

Third-country auditors and audit entities registered in Sections A/B of Ministerial Decree 174/2022 are required to communicate to the Ministry of Economy and Finance and for information to Consob any change in the information provided for the purpose of registration within 30 days of the occurrence of the modification, submitting the relevant documentation if necessary. In these cases, depending on the type of information to be reported, either the signed UPDATE_RLPT_A update form or the RLPT_A_spreadsheet can be used, taking care to attach relevant documentation (e.g., IDs, criminal record(s), legal opinion(s), self-declaration(s), etc.). The Ministry of Economy and Finance, having verified the completeness of the documentation, will proceed to update the data and notify the parties concerned.

Annual declarations on registration requirements – Article 3, paragraph 2 of Ministerial Decree 174/2022

Third-country auditors and audit entities registered in Sections A/B of Ministerial Decree 174/2022 are required to communicate annually to the Ministry of Economy and Finance and for information to Consob the existence of the requirements referred to in Articles 5 and 10 of the aforementioned decree. It is mandatory to complete and transmit the form YEARLY_DECLARATIONS_PT_A by 30 January of each year.