Testing of the OOTS
1. Member States and the Commission shall, in the framework of the gateway coordination group, adopt a testing schedule and a set of indicators according to which testing results can be measured and considered as positive.
2. The Commission shall provide testing services that Member States can use to test the conformity of technical solutions with the indicators referred to in paragraph 1.
3. Member States and the Commission shall test the functioning of each of the OOTS components and verify that they can function properly according to the indicators referred to in paragraph 1. Only those components of the OOTS for which the tests yield positive results shall be made available for users.
Commission assistance
The Commission shall provide a team of experts as part of the Commission technical support contact point to assist national technical support contact points, and national coordinators in all aspects related to the functioning of the OOTS from a technical point of view, in particular:
(a)
providing guidelines;
(b)
organising workshops and demonstrations;
(c)
answering individual questions.
Processing of personal data
In relation to the processing of personal data present in the evidence subject to exchange through the OOTS and occurring in the components of the OOTS that they own pursuant to Article 25 of this Regulation, the respective competent authorities of Member States, in their capacities as evidence requester or evidence provider, shall act as controllers as defined in Article 4, point 7, of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and as further specified in Articles 34 and 35 of this Regulation.
Responsibilities of evidence requester as data controller
1. For each evidence exchange through the OOTS, the relevant evidence requester or intermediary platform, where applicable, shall be solely responsible for the completeness and lawfulness of the evidence request. The evidence requester shall ensure, in particular, that the evidence is required for the particular procedure for which it is requested by a user.
2. Once the evidence exchanged through the OOTS becomes available to the evidence requester or intermediary platform, where applicable, either following the user’s choice to proceed with the exchange of evidence in accordance with Article 14(3), point (f), of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724, or in the case of the procedures referred to in Article 14(5) of Regulation (EU) 2018/1724, the evidence requester or intermediary platform, where applicable, shall ensure the same level of protection of personal data in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 as in a situation where the user submits or uploads the evidence without having recourse to the OOTS.
Responsibilities of evidence provider as data controller
1. Without prejudice to their obligations set out in Regulation (EU) 2016/679, for each evidence exchange through the OOTS, the relevant evidence provider or intermediary platform, where applicable, shall be solely responsible for verifying:
(a)
that the requested evidence it holds can be matched to the user in accordance with Article 16;
(b)
that the user is entitled to use the requested evidence.
2. When an intermediary platform provides the preview space in accordance with Article 15(1), point (b)(ii), of this Regulation it shall be considered as a processor acting on behalf of the evidence provider according to Article 4(8) of Regulation (EU) 2016/679.
Entry into force
This Regulation shall enter into force on the twentieth day following that of its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union .
It shall apply from 12 December 2023.
Source: EUR-Lex (Publications Office of the EU), © European Union, reuse permitted under Commission Decision 2011/833/EU.
