(5)Investment firms that provide investment advice and portfolio management should be able to recommend suitable financial instruments to their clients and potential clients and should therefore be able to ask questions to identify a client’s individual sustainability preferences. In accordance with an investment firm’s obligation to act in the best interest of its clients, recommendations to clients and potential clients should reflect both the financial objectives and any sustainability preferences expressed by those clients. It is therefore necessary to clarify that investment firms should have in place appropriate arrangements to ensure that the inclusion of sustainability factors in the advisory process and portfolio management does not lead to mis-selling practices or to the misrepresentation of financial instruments or strategies as fulfilling sustainability preferences where they do not. In order to avoid such practices or misrepresentations, investment firms providing investment advice should first assess a client’s or potential client’s other investment objectives, time horizon and individual circumstances, before asking for his or her potential sustainability preferences.