ABSTRACT
The phrase 'certification regime' derives from the certificate that a firm is required to issue on an annual basis to employees engaged in significant harm functions to verify the firm's view that each employee is fit and proper to engage in that function. The FCA specifically addresses the possibility of a person seconded from a contractor falling into the certification regime. Of course, determining that an individual is an 'employee' for these purposes is only the first stage; he or she must also perform a specified function in relation to the carrying on by the firm of a regulated activity. Functions that fall to be certified are prescribed by the rules of the PRA and the FCA relating to what is defined by statute as a 'significant-harm function', being a function, in relation to the carrying on of a regulated activity by an authorised person.
