1.   Member States may delegate or allow the competent authorities referred to in Article 20(1) to delegate any of the tasks required to be undertaken pursuant to this Regulation to other authorities or bodies designated or otherwise authorised by law to carry out such tasks, except for tasks related to:

(a)	the quality assurance system referred to in Article 26;

(b)	investigations referred to in Article 23 of this Regulation and Article 32 of Directive 2006/43/EC arising from that quality assurance system or from a referral by another authority; and

(c)	sanctions and measures as referred to in Chapter VII of Directive 2006/43/EC related to the quality assurance reviews or investigation of statutory audits of public-interest entities.

2.   Any execution of tasks by other authorities or bodies shall be the subject of an express delegation by the competent authority. The delegation shall specify the delegated tasks and the conditions under which they are to be carried out.

Where the competent authority delegates tasks to other authorities or bodies, it shall be able to reclaim these competences on a case-by-case basis.

3.   The authorities or bodies shall be organised in such a manner that there are no conflicts of interest. The ultimate responsibility for supervising compliance with this Regulation and with the implementing measures adopted pursuant thereto shall lie with the delegating competent authority.

The competent authority shall inform the Commission and the competent authorities of Member States of any arrangement entered into with regard to the delegation of tasks, including the precise conditions governing such delegation.

4.   By way of derogation from paragraph 1, Member States may decide to delegate the tasks referred to in point (c) of paragraph 1 to other authorities or bodies designated or otherwise authorised by law to carry out such tasks, when the majority of the persons involved in the governance of the authority or body concerned is independent from the audit profession.