Competent authorities

1. Member States shall designate the competent authorities empowered to ensure implementation of this Directive. They shall inform the Commission thereof, indicating any division of those duties.

2. The authorities referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article 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 insurance or reinsurance undertakings or associations whose members directly or indirectly include insurance or reinsurance undertakings, or insurance or reinsurance intermediaries, without prejudice to the possibility of cooperation between competent authorities and other bodies where that is expressly provided for in Article 3(1).

3. The competent authorities shall possess all the powers necessary for the performance of their duties under this Directive. Where there is more than one competent authority on its territory, a Member State shall ensure that those authorities collaborate closely so that they can discharge their respective duties effectively.