1. Competent authorities shall cooperate with each other and with ESMA for the purposes of this Regulation. They shall exchange information without undue delay and cooperate in investigation, supervision and enforcement activities.

Where Member States have chosen, in accordance with Article 38, to lay down criminal sanctions for infringements of this Regulation, they shall ensure that appropriate measures are in place so that competent authorities have all the necessary powers to liaise with judicial authorities within their jurisdiction to receive specific information related to criminal investigations or proceedings commenced for possible infringements of this Regulation and provide the same to other competent authorities and ESMA to fulfil their obligation to cooperate with each other and ESMA for the purposes of this Regulation.

2. A competent authority may refuse to act on a request for information or a request to cooperate with an investigation only in any of the following exceptional circumstances:

(a) where complying with the request is likely to adversely affect its own investigation, enforcement activities or a criminal investigation;

(b) where judicial proceedings have already been initiated in respect of the same actions and against the same persons before the authorities of the Member State addressed;

(c) where a final judgment has already been delivered in relation to such persons for the same actions in the Member State addressed.