CHAPTER VII – Confidentiality and penalties (Art. 63-65)
Art. 63 CRA - Confidentiality arrow_right_alt
Applicable: 11 December 2027
- All parties involved in the application of this Regulation shall respect the confidentiality of information and data obtained in carrying out their tasks and activities in such a manner as to protect, in particular:
- intellectual property rights and confidential business information or trade secrets of a natural or legal person, including source code, except the cases referred to in Article 5 of Directive (EU) 2016/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council (37);
- the effective implementation of this Regulation, in particular for the purposes of inspections, investigations or audits;
- public and national security interests;
- integrity of criminal or administrative proceedings.
- Without prejudice to paragraph 1, information exchanged on a confidential basis between the market surveillance authorities and between market surveillance authorities and the Commission shall not be disclosed without the prior agreement of the originating market surveillance authority.
- Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not affect the rights and obligations of the Commission, Member States and notified bodies with regard to the exchange of information and the dissemination of warnings, nor the obligations of the persons concerned to provide information under criminal law of the Member States.
- The Commission and Member States may exchange, where necessary, sensitive information with relevant authorities of third countries with which they have concluded bilateral or multilateral confidentiality arrangements guaranteeing an adequate level of protection.
(37) Directive (EU) 2016/943 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2016 on the protection of undisclosed know-how and business information (trade secrets) against their unlawful acquisition, use and disclosure (OJ L 157, 15.6.2016, p. 1).
Art. 64 CRA - Penalties arrow_right_alt
Applicable: 11 December 2027
- Member States shall lay down the rules on penalties applicable to infringements of this Regulation and shall take all measures necessary to ensure that they are implemented. The penalties provided for shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States shall, without delay, notify the Commission of those rules and measures and shall notify it, without delay, of any subsequent amendment affecting them.
- Non-compliance with the essential cybersecurity requirements set out in Annex I and the obligations set out in Articles 13 and 14 shall be subject to administrative fines of up to EUR 15 000 000 or, if the offender is an undertaking, up to 2,5 % of the its total worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher.
- Non-compliance with the obligations set out in Articles 18 to 23, Article 28, Article 30(1) to (4), Article 31(1) to (4), Article 32(1), (2) and (3), Article 33(5), and Articles 39, 41, 47, 49 and 53 shall be subject to administrative fines of up to EUR 10 000 000 or, if the offender is an undertaking, up to 2 % of its total worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher.
- The supply of incorrect, incomplete or misleading information to notified bodies and market surveillance authorities in reply to a request shall be subject to administrative fines of up to EUR 5 000 000 or, if the offender is an undertaking, up to 1 % of its total worldwide annual turnover for the preceding financial year, whichever is higher.
- When deciding on the amount of the administrative fine in each individual case, all relevant circumstances of the specific situation shall be taken into account and due regard shall be given to the following:
- the nature, gravity and duration of the infringement and of its consequences;
- whether administrative fines have been already applied by the same or other market surveillance authorities to the same economic operator for a similar infringement;
- the size, in particular with regard to microenterprises and small and medium sized-enterprises, including start-ups, and the market share of the economic operator committing the infringement.
- Market surveillance authorities that apply administrative fines shall communicate that application to the market surveillance authorities of other Member States through the information and communication system referred to in Article 34 of Regulation (EU) 2019/1020.
- Each Member State shall lay down rules on whether and to what extent administrative fines may be imposed on public authorities and public bodies established in that Member State.
- Depending on the legal system of the Member States, the rules on administrative fines may be applied in such a manner that the fines are imposed by competent national courts or other bodies according to the competences established at national level in those Member States. The application of such rules in those Member States shall have an equivalent effect.
- Administrative fines may be imposed, depending on the circumstances of each individual case, in addition to any other corrective or restrictive measures applied by the market surveillance authorities for the same infringement.
- By way of derogation from paragraphs 3 to 9, the administrative fines referred to in those paragraphs shall not apply to the following:
Art. 65 CRA - Representative actions arrow_right_alt
Applicable: 11 December 2027
Directive (EU) 2020/1828 shall apply to the representative actions brought against infringements by economic operators of provisions of this Regulation that harm, or may harm, the collective interests of consumers.
