1.Member States shall appoint one or more competent authorities and shall notify the Commission of the appointment of such authorities, giving details of any division of powers among them. Member States shall also ensure that this Directive is applied.
2.The Member States shall ensure that the competent authorities have the necessary powers to carry out their task.
3.Where particular requirements of this Directive are unsuited to a company's activities or circumstances, the competent authorities shall ensure that suitable adaptations are made to such requirements.
4.The competent authorities may authorize the omission from the half-yearly report of certain information provided for in this Directive if they consider that disclosure of such information would be contrary to the public interest or seriously detrimental to the company, provided that, in the latter case, such omission would not be likely to mislead the public with regard to facts and circumstances knowledge of which is essential for the assessment of the shares in question. The company or its representatives shall be responsible for the correctness and relevance of the facts on which any application for such exemption is based.
5.Paragraphs 3 and 4 shall also apply to the more stringent or additional obligations imposed pursuant to Article 3.
6.If a company governed by the law of a non-member country publishes a half-yearly report in a non-member country, the competent authorities may authorize it to publish that report instead of the half-yearly report provided for in this Directive, provided that the information given is equivalent to that which would result from the application of this Directive.
7.This Directive shall not affect the competent authorities' liability, which shall continue to be governed solely by national law. Cooperation between Member States