Article 5

Assessment of the application

The supervisory authority shall confirm receipt of the application of the insurance or reinsurance undertaking.

An application shall be considered complete by the supervisory authority if the application covers all the matters set out in Articles 2, 3 and 4.

The supervisory authority shall confirm if the application is considered complete or not on a timely basis and at least within 30 days of the date of receipt of the application.

The supervisory authority shall ensure that the period of time within which it decides on an application is reasonable and does not exceed 3 months from the receipt of a complete application unless there are exceptional circumstances which are communicated in writing to the insurance or reinsurance undertaking on a timely basis.

Where there are exceptional circumstances, the supervisory authority shall not take longer than 6 months from the receipt of a complete application to decide on an application.

Where the supervisory authority has considered an application to be complete, this shall not prevent that supervisory authority from requesting additional information necessary for carrying out its assessment. The request shall specify the additional information required and the reasons for the request. The days between the date the supervisory authority requests such information and the date the supervisory authority receives such information shall not be included within the periods of time stated in the fourth and fifth subparagraphs.

The insurance or reinsurance undertaking shall inform the supervisory authority of any change to the details of its application.

Where an insurance or reinsurance undertaking informs the supervisory authority of a change to its application this shall be treated as a new application unless:

(a)	the change is due to a request from the supervisory authority for additional information; or

(b)	the supervisory authority is satisfied that the change does not significantly affect its assessment of the application.

An insurance or reinsurance undertaking may withdraw an application by notification in writing at any stage prior to the decision of the supervisory authority. If the insurance or reinsurance undertaking subsequently resubmits the application or submits an updated application, the supervisory authority shall treat this as a new application.