1. Member States shall ensure that the provision of research by third parties to investment firms providing portfolio management or other investment or ancillary services to clients shall not be regarded as an inducement if it is received in return for either of the following:

(a) direct payments by the investment firm out of its own resources;

(b) payments from a separate research payment account controlled by the investment firm, provided the following conditions relating to the operation of the account are met:

(i) the research payment account is funded by a specific research charge to the client;

(ii) as part of establishing a research payment account and agreeing the research charge with their clients, investment firms set and regularly assess a research budget as an internal administrative measure;

(iii) the investment firm is held responsible for the research payment account;

(iv) the investment firm regularly assesses the quality of the research purchased based on robust quality criteria and its ability to contribute to better investment decisions.

 With regard to point (b) of the first subparagraph, where an investment firm makes use of the research payment account, it shall provide the following information to clients: