Duty of persons responsible for the legal control of annual and consolidated accounts
1.Member States shall provide at least that: (a) any person authorised within the meaning of Council Directive 84/253/EEC(14), performing in a credit institution the task described in Article 51 of Council Directive 78/660/EEC(15), or Article 37 of Council Directive 83/349/EEC, or Article 31 of Directive 85/611/EEC(16), or any other statutory task, shall have a duty to report promptly to the competent authorities any fact or decision concerning that institution of which he has become aware while carrying out that task which is liable to: - constitute a material breach of the laws, regulations or administrative provisions which lay down the conditions governing authorisation or which specifically govern pursuit of the activities of credit institutions, or - affect the continuous functioning of the credit institution, or - lead to refusal to certify the accounts or to the expression of reservations; (b) that person shall likewise have a duty to report any fact and decisions of which he becomes aware in the course of carrying out a task as described in (a) in an undertaking having close links resulting from a control relationship with the credit institution within which he is carrying out the abovementioned task.
2.The disclosure in good faith to the competent authorities, by persons authorised within the meaning of Directive 84/253/EEC, of any fact or decision referred to in paragraph 1 shall not constitute a breach of any restriction on disclosure of information imposed by contract or by any legislative, regulatory or administrative provision and shall not involve such persons in liability of any kind.