Article 18

Council Regulation (EC) No 515/97 of 13 March 1997 on mutual assistance between the administrative authorities of the Member States and cooperation between the latter and the Commission to ensure the correct application of the law on customs and agricultural matters · European Union

1. Where a Member State's competent authorities become aware of operations which constitute, or appear to constitute, breaches of customs or agricultural legislation that are of particular relevance at Community level, and especially: where they have, or might have, ramifications in other Member States, or where it appears likely to the above authorities that similar operations have also been carried out in other Member States, they shall communicate to the Commission as soon as possible, either on their own initiative or in response to a reasoned request from the Commission, any relevant information, be it in the form of documents or copies or extracts thereof, needed to determine the facts so that the Commission may coordinate the steps taken by the Member States. The Commission shall convey this information to the competent authorities of the other Member States. 2. Where a Member State's competent authorities invoke paragraph 1, they need not communicate information as provided in Articles 14 (b) and 15 to the competent authorities of the other member States concerned. 3. In response to a reasoned request from the Commission, the Member State's competent authorities shall act in the manner laid down in Articles 4 to 8. 4. Where the Commission considers that irregularities have taken place in one or more Member States, it shall inform the Member State or States concerned thereof and that State or those States shall at the earliest opportunity carry out an enquiry, at which Commission officials may be present under the conditions laid down in Articles 9 (2) and 11 of this Regulation. The Member State or States concerned shall, as soon as possible, communicate to the Commission the findings of the enquiry. 5. Officials of the Commission may collect the information specified in Article 10 under conditions laid down in that Article by common accord. 6. This Article is without prejudice to the Commission's right to information and scrutiny by virtue of other legislation in force. TITLE IV RELATIONS WITH THIRD COUNTRIES

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Source: EUR-Lex (Cellar) · retrieved 2026-11-06 · Text as adopted (Official Journal); later amendments are not incorporated in this text.