France: Mandatory Power of Attorney – reminder

Clearstream Banking¹ reminds customers that a Power of Attorney (POA) must be in place between the beneficial owner (BO) and its representative signing the documents on its behalf. This applies to Forms 5000 and 5001 required for relief at source or standard refund, to Form RPPM provided by foreign Collective Investment Vehicles (CIVs) as well as to any other relevant document.

In order to comply with the request of the French Tax Authorities (FTA), customers are requested to provide Clearstream Banking with a POA, when relevant, as follows:

• One POA per BO and per representative;
• POA must be completed by the BO and must be signed, stamped (for legal entities) and dated before the first relief or reclaim application;
• The first POA must be provided in original format or as a certified true copy. It will be considered valid until revoked, however to ease the relief or reclaim process, customers must provide a non-certified copy with each new application, mentioning the CBL reference ID from the original POA. If no original was previously provided non-certified copies will be rejected;
• The POA must be in French or in English. A version in the local language together with a version in French or English is also acceptable, but POAs in the local language only will automatically be rejected.

According to the FTA’s requirements, copies of foreign documents must be certified by the French Embassy or Consulate of the country of residence of the BO.

Important note: Failing to provide the POA when required will result in the rejection of Forms 5000 and 5001, Form RPPM, and any other relevant documentation. 

Further information

For further information about the certification process, please refer to the Market Taxation Guide – France (Securities held in BNP Paribas Securities Services).

Customers may contact the Clearstream Banking Tax Help Desk or Clearstream Banking Client Services or their Relationship Officer.

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1. Clearstream Banking refers collectively to Clearstream Banking S.A., registered office at 42, avenue John F. Kennedy, L-1855 Luxembourg, and registered with the Luxembourg Trade and Companies Register under number B-9248, and Clearstream Banking AG (for Clearstream Banking AG customers using Creation Accounts), registered office at 61, Mergenthalerallee, 65760 Eschborn, Germany and registered in Register B of the Amtsgericht Frankfurt am Main, Germany under number HRB 7500.