Recital 2

(2)ECB documents may be in the possession of the national competent authorities as a result of their duty to assist the ECB, to cooperate in good faith and to exchange information with the ECB pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1024/2013. The performance of supervisory tasks conferred on the ECB and the effective functioning of the single supervisory mechanism may be hampered if the ECB is not consulted on the scope of access to be granted in respect of ECB documents in the possession of the national competent authorities or, if alternatively, requests for access to such documents are not referred to the ECB. Therefore, requests for access to such documents should either be referred to the ECB or the ECB should be consulted prior to any decision on disclosure,