Cap. 632 Art. 11Powers of the competent authority.    Cap. 586.

(1) The competent authority shall have all the supervisory and investigatory powers that are necessary for the exercise of its functions under this Act, including but not limited to the power:

(a) to request data, information, or documentation held by any person in any form, as may be relevant to the carrying out of the competent authority’s functions and to receive or take a copy thereof;

(b) to obtain information related, in any manner, to the performance, by any person, of functions pertaining to an insolvency practitioner or registered firm;

(c) to carry out on-site inspections of the working premises of the insolvency practitioners or registered firm;

(d) to appoint experts to carry out verifications or investigations;

(e) to impose the administrative penalties, and other measures available to it in terms of article 18; and

(f) to refer matters for criminal prosecution:

Provided that the powers made available to the competent authority in terms of this article may be exercised by the competent authority alone, or in collaboration with other authorities, or by application to any competent judicial authority.

(2) In the exercise of its functions in terms of article 9, the competent authority may consult with such persons as it may deem appropriate, and may also appoint committees, of which the chairman shall be a member of the competent authority, thereby establishing their remit and remuneration, for the carrying out of such studies or other work as the competent authority may assign to them, including but not limited to, the establishment and operation of a system of quality assurance.

(3) The competent authority shall be empowered to exchange confidential information with the competent authorities of other Member States.

(4) The processing of personal data processed in the exercise of the supervisory and investigatory powers pursuant to this article shall be carried out in accordance with the Data Protection Act and Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation).