Article 101
Competent authorities
The Member States shall designate the competent authority or authorities responsible for the implementation of this Regulation. They shall entrust their authorities with the powers, resources, equipment and knowledge necessary for the proper performance of their tasks pursuant to this Regulation. The Member States shall communicate the names and contact details of the competent authorities to the Commission which shall publish a list of competent authorities.
Article 48
Peer review and exchange of experience between authorities responsible for notified bodies
1. The Commission shall provide for the organisation of exchange of experience and coordination of administrative practice between the authorities responsible for notified bodies. Such exchange shall cover elements including:
| (a) | development of best practice documents relating to the activities of the authorities responsible for notified bodies; |
| (b) | development of guidance documents for notified bodies in relation to the implementation of this Regulation; |
| (c) | training and qualification of the experts referred to in Article 40; |
| (d) | monitoring of trends relating to changes to notified body designations and notifications and trends in certificate withdrawalsand transfers between notified bodies; |
| (e) | monitoring of the application and applicability of scope codes referred to in Article 42(13); |
| (f) | development of a mechanism for peer reviews between authorities and the Commission; |
| (g) | methods of communication to the public on the monitoring and surveillance activities of authorities and the Commission on notifiedbodies. |
2. The authorities responsible for notified bodies shall participate in a peer review every third year through the mechanism developed pursuant to paragraph 1 of this Article. Such reviews shall normally be conducted in parallel with the on-site joint assessments described in Article 39. Alternatively, an authority may make the choice of having such reviews take place as part of its monitoring activities referred to in Article 44.
3. The Commission shall participate in the organisation and provide support to the implementation of the peer review mechanism.
4. The Commission shall compile an annual summary report of the peer review activities, which shall be made publicly available.
5. The Commission may, by means of implementing acts, adopt measures setting out the detailed arrangements and related documents for the peer review mechanism and training and qualification as referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 114(3).
Article 35
Authorities responsible for notified bodies
1. Any Member State that intends to designate a conformity assessment body as a notified body, or has designated a notified body, to carry out conformity assessment activities under this Regulation shall appoint an authority (‘authority responsible for notified bodies’), which may consist of separate constituent entities under national law and shall be responsible for setting up and carrying out the necessary procedures for the assessment, designation and notification of conformity assessment bodies and for the monitoring of notified bodies, including subcontractors and subsidiaries of those bodies.
2. The authority responsible for notified bodies shall be established, organised and operated so as to safeguard the objectivity and impartiality of its activities and to avoid any conflicts of interests with conformity assessment bodies.
3. The authority responsible for notified bodies shall be organised in a manner such that each decision relating to designation or notification is taken by personnel different from those who carried out the assessment.
4. The authority responsible for notified bodies shall not perform any activities that notified bodies perform on a commercial or competitive basis
5. The authority responsible for notified bodies shall safeguard the confidential aspects of the information it obtains. However, it shall exchange information on notified bodies with other Member States, the Commission and, when required, with other regulatory authorities.
6. The authority responsible for notified bodies shall have a sufficient number of competent personnel permanently available for the proper performance of its tasks.
Where the authority responsible for notified bodies is a different authority from the national competent authority for medical devices, it shall ensure that the national authority responsible for medical devices is consulted on relevant matters.
7. Member States shall make publicly available general information on their measures governing the assessment, designation and notification of conformity assessment bodies and for the monitoring of notified bodies, and on changes which have a significant impact on such tasks.
8. The authority responsible for notified bodies shall participate in the peer-review activities provided for in Article 48.
