Article 41

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 investigating 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 creditors or credit intermediaries. 2. Member States shall ensure that competent authorities, all persons who work or who have worked for the competent authorities, as well as auditors and experts instructed by the 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 the competent authorities from exchanging or transmitting confidential information in accordance with Union and national law. 3. Member States shall ensure that the competent authorities are either of the following: (a) competent authorities as defined in Article 4, point (2), of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council (29); or (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. 4. Member States shall ensure that the competent authorities fulfil the criteria set out in Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2017/2394. 5. Member States shall inform the Commission of the designation of the competent authorities and any changes thereto, and, where there is more than one competent authority on their territory, indicate any division of the respective duties between those competent authorities. The first such notification shall be made as soon as possible and at the latest by 20 November 2025. 6. The competent authorities shall exercise their powers in conformity with national law either: (a) directly under their own authority or under the supervision of the judicial authorities; or (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. 7. 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. 8. The Commission shall publish a list of the competent authorities in the Official Journal of the European Union at least once a year, and shall update that list continuously on its website. 9. Member States may apply national legislation to grant product intervention powers to national competent authorities to withdraw credit products in justified cases.

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Source: EUR-Lex CELLAR · retrieved 2026-07-30