Duty of confidentiality

(1) Persons employed at the Bundesanstalt, and persons engaged under section 4(3) of the Financial Services Supervision Act, may not, without authorisation, disclose or exploit facts that come to their knowledge in the course of their activity and whose confidentiality is in the interest of a person under a duty under this Act, of the competent authorities, or of a third party — in particular business and trade secrets and personal data — even after they have left the service or their activity has ended. This also applies to other persons who obtain knowledge of the facts described in the first sentence through official reporting. Unauthorised disclosure or exploitation within the meaning of the first sentence does not, in particular, exist where facts are passed on to
1. prosecuting authorities or courts responsible for criminal and regulatory-fine matters,
2. bodies entrusted, by statute or on public mandate, with the supervision of stock exchanges or other markets on which financial instruments are traded, of trading in financial instruments or foreign currency, of credit institutions, financial services institutions, securities institutions, investment companies, financial undertakings or insurance undertakings, and persons engaged by such bodies,
3. the European Securities and Markets Authority, the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, the European Banking Authority, the Joint Committee of the European Supervisory Authorities, the European Systemic Risk Board, or the European Commission, insofar as those bodies need the information to perform their tasks. The duty of confidentiality under the first sentence applies accordingly to persons employed at, and persons engaged by, the bodies named in the third sentence, nos. 1 and 2. Where a body named in the third sentence, no. 1 or 2 is located in another state, the facts may be passed on only where the persons employed at, and the persons engaged by, that body are subject to a duty of confidentiality corresponding to that under the first sentence.
(2) Sections 93, 97 and 105(1), section 111(5) in conjunction with section 105(1), and section 116(1) of the Fiscal Code apply to the persons described in paragraph 1, first and second sentences only insofar as the tax authorities need the knowledge to conduct proceedings for a tax offence or a taxation procedure, unless other provisions preclude the passing on of the information. The provisions named in the first sentence, however, do not apply to facts
1. that were communicated to the persons described in paragraph 1, first or second sentence by a body of another state within the meaning of paragraph 1, third sentence, no. 2, or by persons engaged by that body, or
2. of which persons employed at the Bundesanstalt obtain knowledge through participating in the supervision of institutions directly supervised by the European Central Bank, in particular in joint supervisory teams within the meaning of Article 2 point 6 of Regulation (EU) No 468/2014 of the European Central Bank of 16 April 2014 establishing the framework for cooperation within the Single Supervisory Mechanism between the European Central Bank and national competent authorities and with national designated authorities (SSM Framework Regulation) (ECB/2014/17) (OJ L 141, 14.5.2014, p. 1), and that are confidential under the rules of the European Central Bank.