Art. 6 Specific provisions for complaints handling involving third-party entities | RTS on issuer complaints handling | MiCA

This article extends the complaints-handling framework established in earlier articles to scenarios where asset-referenced tokens have been distributed through third-party entities.

It sets out a two-way information flow obligation between issuers and those third parties, ensuring complaints are not lost or siloed at the distribution level.

Beyond this coordination duty, the article also directly imposes a set of operational complaints-handling obligations on the third-party entities themselves, mirroring many of the requirements placed on issuers elsewhere in the regulation.

Important points:

Ensure two-way, timely notification of complaints between you and any third-party entities involved in distributing your tokens.
Third-party entities are required to accept complaints by electronic or paper means free of charge, acknowledge receipt, maintain a secure internal record, and provide complainants with the issuer's contact details.
Third-party entities are required to use the same complaint filing template as the issuer and provide complainants with a GDPR-compliant privacy notice alongside it.

1. Where the tokens have been distributed, totally or partially, through third-party entities, issuers of asset-referenced tokens shall ensure that:
  1. the third-party entities notify them in a timely manner of any complaints received regarding the distribution of such tokens and transfer them to the issuer of asset-referenced tokens that shall assess such complaints;
  2. they notify the third-party entities distributing such tokens in a timely manner of any complaints received by the issuer of asset-referenced tokens regarding the distribution of those tokens.
1. The third-party entities shall:
  1. allow complainants to:
    submit complaints by electronic means or in paper form;
    file complaints free of charge;
  2. acknowledge receipt of a complaint regarding the distribution of such tokens clearly mentioning the date of its receipt and, where an electronic complaint form is filed, provide the complainant with a copy of the complaint;
  3. provide the contact details of issuers of asset-referenced tokens to the complainant, to allow the complainant to have the option to file complaints directly with issuers of asset-referenced tokens;
  4. develop and make available to holders of asset-referenced tokens the same template for filing complaints as the issuer of asset-referenced tokens, using the template set out in the Annex;
  5. record internally, in an appropriate manner through a secure electronic register, all complaints received and any measures taken in response thereto for a reasonable period of time and in any event no longer than permitted under national timing requirements, where applicable;
  6. provide the complainant with a privacy notice to accompany the template set out in the Annex to this Regulation, in accordance with Articles 13 and 14 of Regulation (EU) 2016/679.