Article 101

1. The competent authorities of the Member States shall cooperate with each other whenever necessary for the purpose of carrying out their duties under this Directive or of exercising their powers under this Directive or under national law.

Member States shall take the necessary administrative and organisational measures to facilitate the cooperation provided for in this paragraph.

Competent authorities shall use their powers for the purpose of cooperation, even in cases where the conduct under investigation does not constitute an infringement of any regulation in force in their Member State.

2. The competent authorities of the Member States shall immediately provide each other with the information required for the purposes of carrying out their duties under this Directive.

2a. The competent authorities shall cooperate with ESMA for the purposes of this Directive, in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.

The competent authorities shall without delay provide ESMA with all information necessary to carry out its duties, in accordance with Article 35 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.

3. Where a competent authority of one Member State has good reason to suspect that acts contrary to the provisions of this Directive, are being or have been carried out by entities not subject to that competent authority’s supervision on the territory of another Member State, it shall notify the competent authorities of the other Member State thereof in as specific a manner as possible. The recipient authorities shall take appropriate action, shall inform the notifying competent authority of the outcome of that action and, to the extent possible, of significant interim developments. This paragraph shall be without prejudice to the competences of the notifying competent authority.

4. The competent authorities of one Member State may request the cooperation of the competent authorities of another Member State in a supervisory activity or for an on-the-spot verification or in an investigation on the territory of the latter within the framework of their powers pursuant to this Directive. Where a competent authority receives a request with respect to an on-the-spot verification or investigation, it shall:

(a) carry out the verification or investigation itself;

(b) allow the requesting authority to carry out the verification or investigation; or

5. If the verification or investigation is carried out on the territory of one Member State by a competent authority of the same Member State, the competent authority of the Member State which has requested cooperation may request that its own officials accompany the officials carrying out the verification or investigation. The verification or investigation shall, however, be subject to the overall control of the Member State on whose territory it is conducted.

If the verification or investigation is carried out on the territory of one Member State by a competent authority of another Member State, the competent authority of the Member State on whose territory the verification or investigation is carried out may request that its own officials accompany the officials carrying out the verification or investigation.

6. The competent authorities of the Member State where the verification or investigation is carried out may refuse to exchange information as provided for in paragraph 2 or to act on a request for cooperation in carrying out an investigation or on-the-spot verification as provided for in paragraph 4, only where:

(a) such an investigation, on-the-spot verification or exchange of information might adversely affect the sovereignty, security or public policy of that Member State;

(b) judicial proceedings have already been initiated in respect of the same persons and the same actions before the authorities of that Member State;

7. The competent authorities shall notify the requesting competent authorities of any decision taken under paragraph 6. That notification shall contain information about the motives of their decision.

8. The competent authorities may refer to ESMA situations where a request:

(a) to exchange information as provided for in Article 109 has been rejected or has not been acted upon within a reasonable time;

(b) to carry out an investigation or on-the-spot verification as provided for in Article 110 has been rejected or has not been acted upon within a reasonable time; or

(c) for authorisation for its officials to accompany those of the competent authority of the other Member State has been rejected or has not been acted upon within a reasonable time.

Without prejudice to Article 258 of the Treaty of on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), ESMA may, in situations referred to in the first subparagraph, act in accordance with the powers conferred on it under Article 19 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010, without prejudice to the possibilities for refusing to act on a request for information or for an investigation provided for in paragraph 6 of this Article and to the ability of ESMA to act in accordance with Article 17 of that Regulation in those cases.

9. In order to ensure uniform conditions of application of this Article, ESMA may develop draft implementing technical standards to establish common procedures for competent authorities to cooperate in on-the-spot verifications and investigations as referred to in paragraphs 4 and 5.

Power is conferred on the Commission to adopt the implementing technical standards referred to in the first subparagraph in accordance with Article 15 of Regulation (EU) No 1095/2010.