Article 21
1. Member States shall designate the national competent authorities empowered to ensure the application and enforcement of this Directive and shall ensure that they are granted investigation and enforcement powers and adequate resources necessary for the efficient and effective performance of their duties.
The competent authorities shall be either public authorities or bodies recognised by national law or by public authorities expressly empowered for that purpose by national law. They shall not be payment service providers, with the exception of national central banks.
2. Member States shall ensure that competent authorities and all persons who work or who have worked for competent authorities, as well as auditors and experts instructed by competent authorities, are bound by the obligation of professional secrecy. No confidential information which they may receive in the course of their duties may be divulged to any person or authority whatsoever, save in summary or aggregate form, without prejudice to cases covered by criminal law or by this Directive. This shall not, however, prevent competent authorities from exchanging or transmitting confidential information in accordance with Union and national law.
3. Member States shall ensure that the authorities designated as competent for ensuring the application and enforcement of this Directive are either or both of the following:
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(a) |
competent authorities as defined in point (2) of Article 4 of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010; |
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(b) |
authorities other than the competent authorities referred to in point (a) provided that national laws, regulations or administrative provisions require those authorities to cooperate with the competent authorities referred to in point (a) whenever necessary in order to carry out their duties under this Directive, including for the purposes of cooperating with EBA as required under this Directive. |
4. Member States shall notify the Commission and EBA of the competent authorities and of any changes thereto. The first such notification shall be made as soon as possible and at the latest by 18 September 2016.
5. The competent authorities shall exercise their powers in conformity with national law either:
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(a) |
directly under their own authority or under the supervision of the judicial authorities; or |
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(b) |
by application to courts which are competent to grant the necessary decision, including, where appropriate, by appeal, if the application to grant the necessary decision is not successful. |
6. Where there is more than one competent authority on their territory, Member States shall ensure that their respective duties are clearly defined and that those authorities collaborate closely so that they can discharge their respective duties effectively.
7. The Commission shall publish a list of the competent authorities in the Official Journal of the European Union at least once a year, and update it continuously on its website.