# PSR Article 91 — Competent authorities and supervisory and investigatory powers

Textual state: amended_substantial. 727 words changed; 1 paragraph added

- Current text: Council final compromise text (Council document 8221/26) — not yet law.
- Compared against: COM(2023) 367 final — superseded.
- Classification is mechanical; method: https://paymentslaw.eu/method/
- Editorial review state: not_assessed. Markers are curated and selective, not a complete assessment.

Word-level diff, proposal → compromise: `{+text+}` was inserted, `[-text-]` was deleted.

## New paragraph -1

{+-1. Member States shall designate the competent authorities responsible for carrying out the functions and duties provided for in this Regulation. Member States shall notify those competent authorities to the EBA and the Commission.+}

## New paragraph -1a

{+-1a. Where Member States designate more than one competent authority pursuant to paragraph -1, they shall determine their respective tasks and designate one competent authority as the single point of contact for cross-border administrative cooperation between competent authorities as well as with the EBA. Member States may designate a different single point of contact for each of those types of administrative cooperation.+}

## Paragraph 1

1. Competent authorities shall exercise their powers to investigate potential infringements of this Regulation, and impose administrative [-sanctions -]{+penalties, periodic penalty payments +}and {+other +}administrative measures laid down in their national legal frameworks in accordance with this Regulation, in any of the following ways: (a) directly; (b) in collaboration with other authorities; (c) by delegating powers to other authorities or bodies, while retaining the responsibility for overseeing the delegated authority or body; (d) by applying to the competent judicial authorities. Where competent authorities delegate the exercise of their powers to other authorities or bodies in accordance with point (c) the delegation of power shall specify the delegated tasks, the conditions under which they are to be carried out, and the conditions under which the delegation of power may be revoked. The authorities or bodies to which the powers are delegated shall be organised in such a manner as to ensure that conflicts of interest are avoided. Competent authorities shall oversee the activity of the authorities or bodies to which the powers are delegated.

## Paragraph 2

2. [-Member States shall designate -]{+The +}competent authorities {+designated under paragraph -1 of this Article shall take all appropriate measures +}to ensure and monitor effective compliance with this Regulation. [-Those competent authorities shall take all appropriate measures to ensure such compliance. -]The competent authorities shall be either: (a) public authorities; (b) bodies recognised by national law or by public authorities expressly empowered for that purpose by national law, including national central banks. The competent authorities shall be independent from economic bodies and avoid conflicts of interest. Without prejudice to paragraph 2, point (b), payment institutions, credit institutions, or post office giro institutions shall not be designated as competent authorities.

## Paragraph 3

3. The competent authorities referred to in paragraph [-2 shall possess -]{+1shall have +}all {+supervisory and +}investigatory powers and adequate resources necessary for the [-performance -]{+exercise +}of their [-tasks. -]{+functions. +}Those powers shall [-include: -]{+include at least: +}(a) in the course of procedures to investigate potential breaches of this Regulation, the power to require from, inter alia, the following natural or legal persons, all information necessary [-to carry out that investigation: -]{+for the performance of the duties of the competent authorities: +}(i) payment services providers; (ii) technical service [-providers -]{+providers, payment scheme operators +}and payment system [-operators; -]{+operators that are not covered by Regulation (EU) 2025/1355, without prejudice to the oversight of the operations of those payment systems by the Eurosystem or central banks of Member States whose currency is not the euro; +}(iii) ATM deployers which do not service payment accounts; (iv) {+providers of +}electronic communications services [-providers; -]{+as defined in Article 2(4), point (b), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972; +}(v) natural persons belonging to the entities referred to in points (i), (ii) and (iii); (vi) third parties to whom the entities referred to in points (i), (ii) and (iii) have outsourced operational functions or activities; (vii) agents and [-distributors -]{+branches +}of the entities referred to in points (i), (ii) and (iii) [-and their branches -]{+that are +}established in the Member State concerned; {+(viii) insofar as permitted by national law, any other person, in particular those involved in the initiation, processing or execution of payment services; +}(b) the power to conduct all necessary investigations of any person referred to in points (a) (i) to [-(vii) -]{+(viii) +}established or located in the Member State of the competent authority or providing services therein, where necessary to carry out the tasks of the competent authorities, including the power to: (i) require the submission of documents; (ii) examine the books and records of the persons referred to in points (a) (i) to (vii) and take copies or extracts from such books and records; (iii) obtain written or oral explanations from any person referred to in points (a) (i) to (vii) or their representatives or staff, where applicable; (iv) interview any other natural person who consents to be interviewed for the purpose of collecting information relating to the subject matter of an investigation; (c) the power to conduct all necessary inspections at the [-business -]premises of the legal persons [-or -]{+and at sites other than the private residence +}of the natural persons referred to in [-points (a)(i) to (vii), -]{+point (a), +}subject to the prior notification of the competent authorities concerned. {+(d) to enter the premises of natural and legal persons, in accordance with national law, in order to seize items, documents and data in any form where a reasonable suspicion exists that items, documents or data relating to the subject matter of the inspection or investigation might be necessary and relevant to prove a case of breach of provisions of this Regulation; (e) to require, insofar as permitted by national law, existing data traffic records held by a telecommunications operator, where there is a reasonable suspicion of a breach and where such records may be necessary for the investigation of a breach of this Regulation; (f) to request the freezing or sequestration of assets, or both; (g) to refer matters for criminal investigation; (h) in the absence of other available means to bring about the cessation or the prevention of any breach of this Regulation and in order to avoid the risk of serious harm to the interests of consumers, insofar as permitted by national law and in accordance where applicable with Article 9 of Regulation (EU) 2022/2065, to take any of the following measures, including by requesting a third party or other public authority to implement them: (i) to issue an order to remove content or to restrict access to an online interface or to display a warning that is explicitly displayed to customers when they access an online interface; (ii) to order a hosting service provider to remove or disable access to an online interface; (iii) to order domain registries or registrars to delete a fully qualified domain name and to allow the competent authority concerned to register it. (i) to prohibit an offer of payment services where competent authorities find that this Regulation has been infringed or where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that it will be infringed; (j) to suspend or prohibit marketing communications where there are reasonable grounds for suspecting that this Regulation has been infringed; (k) to prohibit the provision of payment services where they find that this Regulation has been infringed; (l) where there is a reason to assume that a person is providing payment services without the required authorisation or the required registration, to order the immediate cessation of the activity without prior warning or imposition of a deadline; (m) issue public notices; For the purposes of point (m), if the information published by the competent authority proves to be false or the underlying circumstances incorrect, the competent authority shall inform the public of this in the same way as it previously published the information in question.+}

## New paragraph 3a

{+3a. The EBA shall publish on its website a list of the competent authorities designated in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2.+}

## Paragraph 4

4. Where the law of a Member State lays down criminal sanctions applicable to infringements of this Regulation in accordance with Article 96, [-paragraph -]{+paragraphs (1) and +}(2), that Member State shall have in place the necessary laws, regulations and administrative provisions to enable competent authorities: (a) to liaise with competent judicial authorities in order to receive specific information regarding criminal investigations of alleged infringements of this Regulation, criminal proceedings commenced in respect of such alleged infringements, and the outcome of such proceedings including the final judgement; (b) to provide such information to other competent authorities and the EBA to fulfil their obligation of cooperating with each other and with the EBA for the purposes of this Regulation.

## Paragraph 5

5. The implementation and the exercise of powers set out in this Article shall be proportionate and shall comply with Union and national law, including with applicable procedural safeguards and with the principles of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The investigation and enforcement measures adopted in application of this Regulation shall be appropriate to the nature and the overall actual or potential harm of the infringement.

## Paragraph 6

6. By [-[ OP please insert -]{+[21 months from +}the [-date= the -]date of entry into force of this Regulation], the EBA shall issue guidelines in accordance with Article 16 of Regulation (EU) No 1093/2010, on complaints procedures, including the channels for submission of complaints, the information requested from complainants, and the disclosure of the aggregate analysis of complaints referred to in Article 90(1).