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Relationship with other agreements
This Title shall not affect the provisions applicable to mutual legal assistance in criminal matters or more extensive obligations in the field of administrative assistance or more favourable provisions of bilateral or multilateral cooperation arrangements between the Contracting Parties, in particular the Additional Protocol on mutual administrative assistance in customs matters of 9 June 1997.
Scope
1. The Contracting Parties shall provide each other with mutual assistance to combat illegal activities to which this Agreement applies, in particular in preventing and detecting operations and other acts of commission and omission contrary to the relevant legislation and in conducting investigations relating thereto. 2. The assistance provided for by this Title shall apply to all competent administrative authorities in the Contracting Parties acting in the exercise of administrative investigation powers or criminal prosecution powers, including cases where these authorities exercise powers at the request of the judicial authorities. Where a criminal investigation is carried out by or under the direction of a judicial authority, that authority shall determine whether requests for mutual assistance or cooperation in that connection shall be submitted on the basis of the provisions applicable concerning mutual legal assistance in criminal matters or on the basis of this Title.
Powers
1. The authorities of the Contracting Parties shall apply this Title with the limits of the powers conferred upon them under national provisions. Nothing in this Title may be construed as affecting the powers conferred under national provisions upon the authorities of the Contracting Parties within the meaning of this Title. They shall proceed as though they were acting on their own account or at the request of another authority of the same Contracting Party. In so doing they shall avail themselves of all the legal powers at their disposal within the framework of their national law to respond to the request. 2. Requests addressed to non-competent authorities shall be forwarded without delay to the competent authority.
Proportionality
The authority of the requested Contracting Party may refuse a request for cooperation where it is clear that: (a) the number and the nature of the requests for information made by the requesting Contracting Party within a specific period impose a disproportionate administrative burden on that requested authority; (b) the authority of the requesting Contracting Party has not exhausted the usual sources of information which it could have used in the circumstances to obtain the information requested without running the risk of jeopardising the achievement of the desired end.
Central units
1. Each Contracting Party shall designate one or more central unit empowered to process requests for administrative assistance under this Title. These units shall call on all competent administrative authorities for the execution of the assistance requested. 2. The central units shall communicate directly with each other. 3. The activities of the central units shall not exclude, especially in an emergency, direct cooperation between the other authorities in the Contracting Parties having power to act in matters to which this Agreement applies. The central units shall be informed of any action involving such direct cooperation. 4. The Contracting Parties, when making the notification provided for by Article 44(2), shall announce which are the authorities regarded as the central units for the purposes of this Article.
Requests for information
1. At the request of the authority of the requesting Contracting Party, the authority of the requested Contracting Party shall communicate to it, within the limits of the scope of this Agreement, all information which may enable it or other authorities of the same Contracting Party to prevent, detect and prosecute the illegal activities to which the Agreement applies or needed to recover a claim. The authority of the requested Contracting Party shall undertake all requisite administrative inquiries needed to gather such information. 2. The information communicated is to be accompanied by reports and other documents, or certified copies of or extracts of the same, on which the information notified is based and which are in the possession of the authorities of the requested Contracting Party or which were produced or obtained in order to execute the request for information. 3. By agreement between the authority of the requesting Contracting Party and the authority of the requested Contracting Party, officers authorised by the authority of the requesting Contracting Party may, subject to detailed instructions from the authority of the requested Party, have access in the offices of the authorities of the requested Contracting Party to documents and information pursuant to paragraph 1 held by the authorities of the requested Contracting Party which refer to specific illegal activities falling within the scope of this Agreement. Those officers shall be authorised to take copies of the said documentation.
Requests for surveillance
At the request of the authority of the requesting Contracting Party, the authority of the requested Contracting Party shall as far as possible exercise surveillance over trade in goods in breach of the legislation referred to in Article 2. Such surveillance may relate to a person suspected on reasonable grounds of having participated or of participating in the commission of such illegal activities or having carried out preparatory acts with a view to the commission of such illegal activities, as well as to the premises, means of transport and goods connected with such activities.
Notification and transmission by post
1. At the request of the authority of the requesting Contracting Party, the authority of the requested Contracting Party shall, in accordance with the national rules of the requested Contracting Party, notify the addressee or have it notified, of all instruments or decisions emanating from the competent authorities of the requesting Contracting Party which are within the scope of this Agreement. 2. Requests for notification, mentioning the subject of the instrument or decision to be notified, shall be accompanied by a translation in an official language of the requested Contracting Party or in a language acceptable to that Contracting Party. 3. The Contracting Parties may post acts of notification and requests for information and documents direct to the operators concerned by the third and fourth indents of Article 2(1)(a) residing in the other Contracting Party’s territory. Such persons may respond thereto and provide the relevant documents and information in the form provided for by the rules and arrangements under which the funds were granted.
Requests for enquiries
1. The requested Contracting Party shall at the request of the requesting Contracting Party carry out or arrange to have carried out appropriate enquiries concerning operations or forms of conduct that constitute illegal activities to which this Agreement applies or which prompt the authority of the requesting Contracting Party to suspect on reasonable grounds that such illegal activities have been committed. 2. The requested Contracting Party shall avail themselves of all investigation means at its disposal within the framework of their national law as though it were acting on its own account or at the request of another internal authority, including the involvement or authorisation of the judicial authorities where required. This provision shall be without prejudice to the duty of economic operators to cooperate under Article 17. The authority of the requested Contracting Party shall communicate the results of such investigations to the authority of the requesting Contracting Party. Article 12(2) shall apply mutatis mutandis . 3. The authority of the requested Contracting Party shall extend assistance to all circumstances, objects and persons apparently linked to the object of the request for assistance, without any need for a supplementary request. In cases of doubt, the authority of the requested Contracting Party shall first contact the authority of the requesting Contracting Party.
Presence of authorised staff from the authority of the requesting Contracting Party
1. By agreement between the authority of the requesting Contracting Party and the authority of the requested Contracting Party, officers appointed by the authority of the requesting Contracting Party may be present at the enquiries referred to in the previous Article. Their presence shall not require the consent of the person or economic operator being investigated. 2. Officers of the authority of the requested Contracting Party shall at all times carry out the enquiries. Officers of the authority of the requesting Contracting Party may not, of their own initiative, exercise the powers conferred on officers of the authority of the requested Contracting Party. They shall, however, have access to the same premises and the same documents as the latter, through them and for the sole purposes of the enquiry being carried out. 3. Conditions may be attached to the authorisation. 4. The information brought to the knowledge of the authority of the requesting Contracting Party may not be used as evidence until the transmission of the documents relating to execution has been authorised.
Duty to cooperate
Economic operators shall be required to cooperate with the execution of the request for administrative assistance by giving access to their premises, means of transport and documentation and providing all relevant information.
Form and content of requests for assistance
1. Requests for assistance shall be made in writing. Documents necessary for the execution of such requests shall accompany the requests. In cases of urgency, oral requests shall be accepted, but must be confirmed in writing as soon as possible. 2. Requests shall be accompanied by the following information: (a) the requesting authority; (b) the measure requested; (c) the object and the grounds for the request; (d) the laws, rules and other legal provisions involved; (e) indications as exact and comprehensive as possible of the natural or legal persons being the target of the investigations; (f) a summary of the relevant facts and of the enquiries already carried out, except in cases provided for in Article 14. 3. Requests shall be submitted in an official language of the requested Contracting Party or in a language that is acceptable to that Contracting Party. 4. Incorrect or incomplete requests may be corrected or completed. The measures necessary to comply with the request shall be commenced in the meantime.
Use of information
1. The information obtained shall be used exclusively for the purposes of this Agreement. Where a Contracting Party asks to use such information for other purposes, it shall request the prior written agreement of the supplying authority. Such use shall then be subject to any restrictions laid down by that authority. 2. Paragraph 1 shall not preclude the use of the information in judicial or administrative proceedings for failure to comply with the legislation to which the request for administrative assistance applies if the same forms of assistance were to be available for these proceedings. The competent authority of the Contracting Party which supplied the information shall be advised without delay of such use. 3. The Contracting Parties may, in their records of evidence, reports and testimonies and in proceedings and charges brought before the courts, use as evidence the information obtained and the documents consulted in accordance with this Agreement.
Spontaneous assistance
1. The forms of cooperation established by the foregoing Chapter may be given without the prior request of another Contracting Party. 2. The authority of the Contracting Party transmitting the information may, in accordance with its domestic law, attach conditions to the use of the information by the authority of the recipient Contracting Party. 3. All the authorities of the Contracting Parties shall be bound by such conditions.
Joint operations
1. On imports, exports and transit of goods, where the extent of the trade and the related risk to taxes and subsidies is such that the potential financial loss to the budget of the Contracting Parties is considerable, those Parties may agree to conduct joint cross-border operations for the prevention and prosecution of illegal activities to which this Agreement applies. 2. The coordination and planning of such cross-border operations shall be the responsibility of the central unit or of an office designated by it.
Joint special investigation teams
1. By mutual agreement, the authorities of several Contracting Parties may set up a joint special investigation team based in a Contracting Party. 2. The joint team shall conduct difficult investigations requiring the mobilisation of substantial resources and shall coordinate joint actions. 3. Membership of the team shall not bestow on representatives of the participating Contracting Parties’ authorities any powers of intervention in the territory of the Contracting Party in which the investigations are conducted.
Liaison officers
1. The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties may decide on the secondment, for limited or unlimited periods, of liaison officers of a Contracting Party to the competent services of another Contracting Party in order to provide mutual support in the execution of administrative assistance. 2. Liaison officers shall have the task of providing advice and assistance. They shall have no independent power to act in the territory of the host Contracting Party. With the agreement or at the request of the competent authorities of the Contracting Parties, they may: (a) promote and speed up the exchange of information; (b) provide assistance in investigations; (c) provide support in dealing with requests for assistance; (d) advise and assist the host Contracting Party in preparing and carrying out cross-border operations; (e) perform any other duties on which the Contracting Parties may agree between themselves. 3. The competent authorities of the Contracting Parties shall settle the details by agreement. 4. Liaison officers may represent the interests of one or more Contracting Parties.
Recovery
1. At the request of the requesting Contracting Party, the requested Contracting Party shall proceed to the recovery of claims to which this Agreement applies as if they were its own claims. 2. The request for recovery of a claim shall be accompanied by an official copy or a certified copy of the document permitting execution, issued by the requesting Contracting Party and, where appropriate, the original or a certified copy of other documents needed for recovery. 3. The requested Contracting Party shall take precautionary measures to ensure recovery of a claim. 4. The authority of the Contracting Party requested shall transfer to the authority of the requesting Contracting Party the amount of the claim that it has recovered. In agreement with the requesting Contracting Party, it may deduct a percentage corresponding to the administrative costs it has incurred. 5. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, claims to be recovered shall not necessarily enjoy the same priority status as comparable claims arising in the requested Contracting Party.
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