1. The management company or the investment company shall have in place a decision-making process for choosing and appointing the depositary, which shall be based on objective pre-defined criteria and meet the sole interest of the UCITS and the investors of the UCITS.

2. Where the management company or the investment company appoints a depositary to which it has a link or a group link, it shall keep documentary evidence of the following:

(a) an assessment comparing the merits of appointing a depositary with a link or a group link with the merits of appointing a depositary which has no link or no group link with the management company or the investment company, taking into account at least the costs, the expertise, financial standing and the quality of services provided by all depositaries assessed;

(b) a report, based on the assessment referred to in point (a), describing the way in which the appointment meets the objective pre-defined criteria referred to in paragraph 1 and is made in the sole interest of the UCITS and the investors of the UCITS.