Mutual assistance
Article 18
1. Supervisory bodies shall cooperate with a view to exchanging good practice. A supervisory body shall, upon receipt of a justified request from another supervisory body, provide that body with assistance so that the activities of supervisory bodies can be carried out in a consistent manner. Mutual assistance may cover, in particular, information requests and supervisory measures, such as requests to carry out inspections related to the conformity assessment reports as referred to in Articles 20 and 21. 2. A supervisory body to which a request for assistance is addressed may refuse that request on any of the following grounds: (a) the supervisory body is not competent to provide the requested assistance; (b) the requested assistance is not proportionate to supervisory activities of the supervisory body carried out in accordance with Article 17; (c) providing the requested assistance would be incompatible with this Regulation. 3. Where appropriate, Member States may authorise their respective supervisory bodies to carry out joint investigations in which staff from other Member States’ supervisory bodies is involved. The arrangements and procedures for such joint actions shall be agreed upon and established by the Member States concerned in accordance with their national law.