Article 31
Cooperation between competent authorities
1. Competent authorities shall cooperate with each other for the purposes of this Regulation. They shall exchange information without undue delay and cooperate in investigation, supervision and enforcement activities.
Where Member States have chosen, in accordance with Article 39(1), to lay down criminal penalties for an infringement of this Regulation, they shall ensure that appropriate measures are in place so that competent authorities have all the necessary powers to liaise with judicial, prosecuting, or criminal justice authorities within their jurisdiction to receive specific information related to criminal investigations or proceedings commenced for infringements of this Regulation and to provide the same information to other competent authorities as well as to ESMA, in order to fulfil their obligation to cooperate for the purposes of this Regulation.
2. A competent authority may refuse to act on a request for information or a request to cooperate with an investigation only in any of the following exceptional circumstances:
|
(a) |
where complying with the request is likely to adversely affect its own investigation, enforcement activities or a criminal investigation; |
|
(b) |
where judicial proceedings have already been initiated in respect of the same actions and against the same natural or legal persons before the authorities of the Member State addressed; |
|
(c) |
where a final judgment has already been delivered in relation to such natural or legal persons for the same actions in the Member State addressed. |
3. Competent authorities shall, on request, without undue delay supply any information required for the purposes of this Regulation.
4. A competent authority may request assistance from the competent authority of another Member State with regard to on-site inspections or investigations.
A requesting competent authority shall inform ESMA of any request referred to in the first subparagraph. Where a competent authority receives a request from a competent authority of another Member State to carry out an on-site inspection or an investigation, it may take any of the following actions:
|
(a) |
carry out the on-site inspection or investigation itself; |
|
(b) |
allow the competent authority which submitted the request to participate in an on-site inspection or investigation; |
|
(c) |
allow the competent authority which submitted the request to carry out the on-site inspection or investigation itself; |
|
(d) |
appoint auditors or experts to carry out the on-site inspection or investigation; |
|
(e) |
share specific tasks related to supervisory activities with the other competent authorities. |
5. The competent authorities may refer to ESMA in situations where a request for cooperation, in particular to exchange information, has been rejected or has not been acted upon within a reasonable time. Without prejudice to Article 258 TFEU, ESMA may, in such situations, act in accordance with the power conferred on it under Article 19 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.
6. Competent authorities shall closely coordinate their supervision in order to identify and remedy infringements of this Regulation, develop and promote best practices, facilitate collaboration, foster consistency of interpretation, and provide cross-jurisdictional assessments in the event of any disagreements.
7. Where a competent authority finds that any of the requirements under this Regulation has not been met or has reason to believe that to be the case, it shall inform the competent authority of the entity or entities suspected of such infringement of its findings in a sufficiently detailed manner.
8. ESMA shall develop draft regulatory technical standards to specify the information to be exchanged between competent authorities in accordance with paragraph 1.
ESMA shall submit those draft regulatory technical standards to the Commission by 10 May 2022.
Power is delegated to the Commission to supplement this Regulation by adopting the regulatory technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph in accordance with Articles 10 to 14 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.
9. ESMA shall develop draft implementing technical standards to establish standard forms, templates and procedures for the cooperation and exchange of information between competent authorities.
ESMA shall submit those draft implementing technical standards to the Commission by 10 May 2022.
Power is conferred on the Commission to adopt the implementing technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph in accordance with Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.