1. The national accreditation body shall be organised in a manner that guarantees its full independence from verifiers it assesses and its impartiality in carrying out its accreditation activities.

2. For that purpose, the national accreditation body shall not offer or provide any activities or services provided by a verifier, nor shall it provide consultancy services, own shares in or otherwise have a financial or managerial interest in a verifier.

3. Without prejudice to Article 55(2), the structure, responsibilities and tasks of the national accreditation body shall be clearly distinguished from those of the competent authority and those of other national authorities.

4. The national accreditation body shall take all final decisions pertaining to the accreditation of verifiers.

However, the national accreditation body may sub-contract certain activities, subject to the requirements set out in the standard referred to in Annex III.