CHAPTER VI Independent supervisory authorities

Section 2 Competence, tasks and powers

Article 47Powers

1.

Each Member State shall provide by law for each supervisory authority to have effective investigative powers. Those powers shall include at least the power to obtain from the controller and the processor access to all personal data that are being processed and to all information necessary for the performance of its tasks.

2.

Each Member State shall provide by law for each supervisory authority to have effective corrective powers such as, for example:

(a)

to issue warnings to a controller or processor that intended processing operations are likely to infringe the provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive;

(b)

to order the controller or processor to bring processing operations into compliance with the provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive, where appropriate, in a specified manner and within a specified period, in particular by ordering the rectification or erasure of personal data or restriction of processing pursuant to Article 16;

(c)

to impose a temporary or definitive limitation, including a ban, on processing.

3.

Each Member State shall provide by law for each supervisory authority to have effective advisory powers to advise the controller in accordance with the prior consultation procedure referred to in Article 28 and to issue, on its own initiative or on request, opinions to its national parliament and its government or, in accordance with its national law, to other institutions and bodies as well as to the public on any issue related to the protection of personal data.

4.

The exercise of the powers conferred on the supervisory authority pursuant to this Article shall be subject to appropriate safeguards, including effective judicial remedy and due process, as set out in Union and Member State law in accordance with the Charter.

5.

Each Member State shall provide by law for each supervisory authority to have the power to bring infringements of provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive to the attention of judicial authorities and, where appropriate, to commence or otherwise engage in legal proceedings, in order to enforce the provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive.