Cooperation
Article 5
1. The Member States and Tunisia shall communicate to each other all information regarding changes in their legislation which may affect the implementation of this Decision. 2. For the purposes of this Decision, the authorities and institutions of the Member States and of Tunisia shall lend one another their good offices and act as though implementing their own legislation. The administrative assistance given by the said authorities and institutions shall, as a rule, be free of charge. However, the competent authorities of the Member States and of Tunisia may agree to certain expenses being reimbursed. 3. The authorities and institutions of the Member States and of Tunisia may, for the purposes of this Decision, communicate directly with one another and with the persons involved or their representatives. 4. The institutions and persons covered by this Decision shall have a duty of mutual information and cooperation to ensure the correct implementation of this Decision. 5. The persons concerned must inform the institutions of the competent Member State or Tunisia, where the latter is the competent State, and of the Member State of residence or Tunisia, where the latter is the State of residence, as soon as possible of any change in their personal or family situation which affects their right to benefits under this Decision. 6. Failure to respect the obligation of information referred to in paragraph 5 may result in the application of proportionate measures in accordance with national law. Nevertheless, these measures shall be equivalent to those applicable to similar situations under domestic law and shall not make it impossible or excessively difficult in practice for claimants to exercise the rights conferred on them by this Decision. 7. The Member States and Tunisia may provide for national provisions that establish conditions for the verification of entitlement to benefits to take into account the fact that the beneficiaries are staying or residing outside the territory of the State where the debtor institution is located. Such provisions shall be proportionate, free from any discrimination based on nationality and in accordance with the principles of this Decision. Such provisions shall be notified to the Association Council.