THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Community,
Having regard to Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 October 2004 on cooperation between national authorities responsible for the enforcement of consumer protection laws (the Regulation on consumer protection cooperation (1), and in particular Article 6(4), Article 7(3), Article 8(7), Article 9 (4), Article 10(3), Article 12(6), Article 13(5), and Article 15(6),
Whereas:
(1) Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 lays down the conditions under which the competent authorities in the Member States designated as responsible for the enforcement of the laws that protect consumers' interests are to cooperate with each other and with the Commission in order to ensure compliance with those laws and the smooth functioning of the internal market and in order to enhance the protection of consumers' economic interests.
(2) It provides for the establishment of networks between those competent authorities in the Member States.
(3) It is necessary to adopt measures for the implementation of the provisions of that Regulation on the mechanisms and conditions governing mutual assistance between competent authorities and on the position of the single liaison office.
(4) It is appropriate to lay down minimum requirements for the information to be supplied in all requests for mutual assistance to enable the system to operate effectively. Rules should also be laid down on the content of the standard forms through which information is exchanged to ensure greater efficiency and ease of processing of that information.
(5) Time-limits should be laid down for each step in the mutual assistance procedures to ensure that the system operates expeditiously.
(6) Rules should be laid down on the notification of intra-Community infringements to enable prompt and effective steps to be taken against them in all the Member States concerned.
(7) Since information supplied pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 may often be sensitive, it is necessary to lay down appropriate rules restricting access to it.
(8) Appropriate general arrangements should be made to ensure that communications are not hindered by language problems while permitting flexibility to address specific cases.
(9) Further measures may be adopted on the basis of the experience gained with the operation of the enforcement cooperation networks of competent authorities in the Member States.
(10) The measures provided for in this Decision are in accordance with the opinion of the Committee set up by Article 19 (1) of Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004,
HAS ADOPTED THIS DECISION:

This Decision lays down rules for the implementation of Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 as regards mutual assistance between competent authorities and the conditions governing that assistance.

For the purposes of this Decision, the following definitions shall apply in addition to those laid down in Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004:
1. ‘database’ means the database provided for in Article 10(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004;

2. ‘alert’ means a notification of an intra-Community infringement under Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004;

3. ‘confidential treatment’ means treatment of information in accordance with the requirements of confidentiality and professional and commercial secrecy as provided for in Article 13 of Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004;

4. ‘legal basis’: means the provision of the laws that protect consumers' interest that is, or is suspected to be, the subject of an intra-community infringement, including a precise indication of the relevant provision of the laws of the Member states of the applicant authority.

The rules on the information to be supplied pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 and on the format of that information are laid down in Chapter 1 of the Annex to this Decision.

The rules on the time-limits applying to the different stages of mutual assistance pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 are laid down in Chapter 2 of the Annex to this Decision.

The rules on alerts are laid down in Chapter 3 of the Annex.

Access to information exchanged pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 shall be restricted in accordance with the rules laid down in Chapter 4 of the Annex to this Decision.

The rules on the languages to be used for requests and for the communication of information pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 2006/2004 are laid down in Chapter 5 of the Annex to this Decision.

This Decision shall apply from 29 December 2006.

This Decision is addressed to the Member States.