Yesterday evening, the proposed law on influencers was adopted by the Senate. The bill has been significantly streamlined compared with the version previously put forward by the French National Assembly: companies operating in the crypto-asset sector will be able to promote their activities without necessarily holding PSAN accreditation, and only registration will be required. In the near future, a joint committee between the two chambers will be formed to produce a joint legislative text.
Senate lightens proposed legislation
Yesterday evening, senators adopted the first reading of the bill to regulate the activities of influencers. In particular, the elected representatives included amendments in favour of companies registered as digital asset service providers (DASPs), thus following the position of the Economic Affairs Committee, as highlighted by Adan (association for the development of digital assets):
The @Senat has just confirmed the version of the PPLinfluencers proposed a few days ago by the Economic Affairs Committee for the Crypto
[1/2] pic.twitter.com/13DuTKKsHK
– Adan (@adan_asso) May 9, 2023
As a reminder, part of this regulation is aimed directly at the French cryptocurrency ecosystem: at the end of March, members of the National Assembly were in favour of a ban on acts of promotion through influencers for companies that do not hold PSAN approval.
However, one problem has been highlighted: the Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) is unable to provide PSAN approval to companies engaging in crypto-asset-related activities. This is because they are unable to obtain professional indemnity insurance, which is a mandatory requirement for obtaining authorisation.
So, after hearing the views of the various players in the sector, the Senate decided on a more flexible bill: PSAN authorisation is not envisaged as compulsory, and only registration will be required for companies carrying out promotional activities.
Discussions will shortly be held by a joint committee so that the two chambers, the National Assembly and the Senate, can reach a compromise on this bill.
Yesterday, in the columns of TCN, players in the French Web3 ecosystem expressed their concerns about the text promoted by the National Assembly, while welcoming the relaxations proposed by the Senate.
