Statement relating to crowdfunding service providers
Press release 22/13
The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF) draws the attention of any legal person, facilitating the financing of business activities by soliciting the general public through an online platform, to the Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 October 2020 on European Crowdfunding Service Providers for business and amending Regulation (EU) 2017/1129 and Directive (EU) 2019/1937 (ECSP Regulation), which is directly applicable in all Member States since 10 November 2021.
The ECSP Regulation lays down uniform requirements for the provision of crowdfunding services, for the organisation, authorisation and supervision of crowdfunding service providers, for the operation of crowdfunding platforms as well as for transparency and marketing communications in relation to the provision of crowdfunding services in the European Union.
The ESCP Regulation only applies to crowdfunding services provided to non-consumer project owners relating to offers for an amount of up to EUR 5,000,000 calculated over a period of twelve months per project owner.
Pursuant to Article 48 of the ECSP Regulation, existing crowdfunding service providers operating under national law may continue to provide services within the meaning of the ECSP Regulation until they obtain the authorisation in accordance with the ECSP Regulation until 10 November 2022 at the latest.
In response to a question raised by the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA), the European Commission clarified that the transitional period ending 10 November 2022, set forth by Article 48, applies also to crowdfunding service providers operating in a jurisdiction (like Luxembourg) where no national law is applicable (cf. Question 2 of the document “Questions and Answers on the European crowdfunding service providers for business Regulation” published by ESMA). The CSSF thus invites platforms active in the crowdfunding service provision, through a publicly available online platform, used to finance specific projects, to assess whether their activity falls within the scope to the ECSP Regulation and is thus subject to an authorisation to be granted by the CSSF.
The CSSF further asks platforms, qualifying as crowdfunding service provider within the meaning of the ECSP Regulation before 10 November 2021, and thus benefiting from the transitional period, to inform the CSSF accordingly as soon as possible (by providing notably their identifying data, a description of their activity and the link to the dedicated website). These platforms, should they intend to continue the provision of crowdfunding services, need to obtain an authorisation as European crowdfunding service provider from the CSSF by 10 November 2022 at the latest.
It has to be highlighted that any legal person incorporated in Luxembourg which intends to provide crowdfunding services within the meaning of the ECSP Regulation, and which has not been active before 10 November 2021, must have been duly authorised by the CSSF before providing any crowdfunding service.
Any authorisation request needs to be submitted to the CSSF in accordance with “CHAPTER III Authorisation and supervision of crowdfunding service providers” of the ECSP Regulation and in particular Article 12 of the said regulation. Article 12 of the ECSP Regulation will be further detailed by regulatory technical standards to be adopted by the European Commission through delegated acts. As these standards have not yet been adopted, reference can be made to the draft prepared by ESMA (which might be subject to amendments), which may be used as guidance to apply for an authorisation with the CSSF.
Any communication regarding the crowdfunding service provision may be addressed to crowdfunding@cssf.lu.
Publications made by the CSSF in relation to crowdfunding are available under the following link: