(13)

Article 18 is replaced by the following: ‘Article 18 Administrative cooperation between Member States 1. Member States shall designate a national contact point responsible for the exchange of information with the other Member States with regard to the application of this Regulation. Member States shall forward to the Commission the names and addresses of their national contact points by 4 December 2011. The Commission shall draw up a list of all contact points and forward it to the Member States. 2. The competent authorities of the Member States shall cooperate closely and shall swiftly provide one another with mutual assistance and with any other relevant information in order to facilitate the implementation and enforcement of this Regulation. 3. The competent authorities of the Member States shall exchange information on convictions and penalties for any serious infringements referred to in Article 6(2). A Member State which receives notification of a serious infringement referred to in Article 6(2) which has resulted in a conviction or a penalty in another Member State during the previous two years shall record that infringement in its national electronic register. 4. Member States shall reply to requests for information from all competent authorities of other Member States and shall carry out checks, inspections and investigations concerning compliance with the requirement laid down in point (a) of Article 3(1) by road transport operators established in their territory. Such requests for information may include access to documents required to prove that the conditions laid down in Article 5 are met. Requests for information by competent authorities of Member States shall be duly justified and reasoned. To this end, requests shall include credible indications of possible infringements of point (a) of Article 3(1), indicate the purpose of the request and specify in sufficient detail the information and documents which are being requested. 5. Member States shall submit the information requested by other Member States pursuant to paragraph 4 within 30 working days from the receipt of the request. A shorter time limit may be mutually agreed between the Member States. 6. Where the requested Member State considers that the request is insufficiently reasoned, it shall inform the requesting Member State accordingly within 10 working days from the receipt of the request. The requesting Member State shall further substantiate the request. Where the requesting Member State is unable to further substantiate the request, the requested Member State may reject the request. 7. Where it is difficult to comply with a request for information or to carry out checks, inspections or investigations, the requested Member State shall inform the requesting Member State accordingly within 10 working days from the receipt of the request, giving the reasons for the difficulty. The Member States concerned shall discuss with each other with a view to finding a solution to any difficulty raised. In the event of persistent delays in the provision of information to the requesting Member State, the Commission shall be informed and shall take appropriate measures. 8. The exchange of information referred to in paragraph 3 shall take place through the message exchange system, namely the European Registers of Road Transport Undertakings (ERRU) established by Commission Regulation (EU) No 1213/2010 (*2). The administrative cooperation and mutual assistance between the competent authorities of the Member States provided for in paragraphs 4 to 7 shall be implemented through the Internal Market Information System (IMI), established by Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*3). For this purpose, each Member State may designate the contact point referred to in paragraph 1 as the competent authority and shall inform the Commission thereof through IMI. 9. Member States shall ensure that the information transmitted to them pursuant to this Article is used only in respect of the matter(s) for which it was requested. Any processing of personal data shall be carried out solely for the purposes of complying with this Regulation and shall be in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council (*4). 10. Mutual administrative cooperation and assistance shall be provided free of charge. 11. A request for information shall not preclude the competent authorities from taking measures in line with the relevant national and Union law to investigate and prevent alleged breaches of this Regulation. (*2) Commission Regulation (EU) No 1213/2010 of 16 December 2010 establishing common rules concerning the interconnection of national electronic registers on road transport undertakings (OJ L 335, 18.12.2010, p. 21)." (*3) Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on administrative cooperation through the Internal Market Information System and repealing Commission Decision 2008/49/EC (“the IMI Regulation”) (OJ L 316, 14.11.2012, p. 1)." (*4) Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data, and repealing Directive 95/46/EC (General Data Protection Regulation) (OJ L 119, 4.5.2016, p. 1).’;"