1.Each host Member State shall ensure that, where an investment firm authorized in another Member State carries on business within its territory through a branch, the competent authorities of the home Member State may, after informing the competent authorities of the host Member State, themselves or through the intermediary of persons they instruct for the purpose carry out on-the-spot verification of the information referred to in Article 23 (3).
2.The competent authorities of the home Member State may also ask the competent authorities of the host Member State to have such verification carried out. Authorities which receive such requests must, within the framework of their powers, act upon them by carrying out the verifications themselves, by allowing the authorities who have requested them to carry them out or by allowing auditors or experts to do so.
3.This Article shall not affect the right of the competent authorities of a host Member State, in discharging their responsibilities under this Directive, to carry out on-the-spot verifications of branches established within their territory.