(Article 13(6) of Directive 2004/39(EC)

1. Member States shall require investment firms to retain all the records required under Directive 2004/39/EC and its implementing measures for a period of at least five years.

Additionally, records which set out the respective rights and obligations of the investment firm and the client under an agreement to provide services, or the terms on which the firm provides services to the client, shall be retained for at least the duration of the relationship with the client.

However, competent authorities may, in exceptional circumstances, require investment firms to retain any or all of those records for such longer period as is justified by the nature of the instrument or transaction, if that is necessary to enable the authority to exercise its supervisory functions under Directive 2004/39/EC.

Following the termination of the authorisation of an investment firm, Member States or competent authorities may require the firm to retain records for the outstanding term of the five year period required under the first subparagraph.

2. The records shall be retained in a medium that allows the storage of information in a way accessible for future reference by the competent authority, and in such a form and manner that the following conditions are met:

(a) the competent authority must be able to access them readily and to reconstitute each key stage of the processing of each transaction;