1. Where, in carrying out its duties under this Regulation, ESMA finds that there are serious indications of the possible existence of facts liable to constitute one or more of the infringements listed in point (a) of Article 42(1), ESMA shall appoint an independent investigation officer within ESMA to investigate the matter. The appointed officer shall not be involved or have been directly or indirectly involved in the supervision of the benchmarks to which the infringement relates and shall perform his or her functions independently from ESMA's Board of Supervisors.
2. The investigation officer referred to in paragraph 1 shall investigate the alleged infringements, take into account any comments submitted by the persons who are subject to the investigation, and shall submit a complete file with his or her findings to ESMA's Board of Supervisors.
3. In order to carry out his or her tasks, the investigation officer shall have the power to request information in accordance with Article
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