Changes to Administrative Sanctions Procedure Guidelines

01/03/2024 09:09:37

The Business Law Committee has published an in-depth article on revised Central Bank of Ireland (CBI) Administrative Sanctions Procedure (ASP) Guidelines.

Background

The Law Society of Ireland participated in a public consultation process on draft ASP Guidelines during 2023, making submissions to the CBI in June and September.

The Central Bank has since published updated guidelines along with a Feedback Statement outlining a number of changes to how the ASP will operate. The main changes relate to improving the rights of the defence at the investigation phase, more flexibility on its rules on confidentiality, permission to bring an independent legal representative at investigations and better protection for legal privilege.

The CBI’s revised ASP was finalised before an important Ifsat ruling in January 2024 of direct relevance to CBI investigations. As noted in the article below, whether the CBI’s enforcement procedures are wholly in conformity with the due process standards set out in that ruling may be open to question.