ensure the confidentiality of information contributed to or produced by the administrator, subject to the disclosure and transparency obligations under this Regulation; and

specifically mitigate conflicts of interest due to the administrator's ownership or control, or due to other interests in the administrator's group or as a result of other persons that may exercise influence or control over the administrator in relation to determining the benchmark.

have the necessary skills, knowledge and experience for the duties assigned to them and are subject to effective management and supervision;

are not subject to undue influence or conflicts of interest and that the compensation and performance evaluation of those persons do not create conflicts of interest or otherwise impinge upon the integrity of the benchmark determination process;

do not have any interests or business connections that compromise the activities of the administrator concerned;

are prohibited from contributing to a benchmark determination by way of engaging in bids, offers and trades on a personal basis or on behalf of market participants, except where such way of contribution is explicitly required as part of the benchmark methodology and is subject to specific rules therein; and

are subject to effective procedures to control the exchange of information with other employees involved in activities that may create a risk of conflicts of interest or with third parties, where that information may affect the benchmark.

reviewing the benchmark's definition and methodology at least annually;

overseeing any changes to the benchmark methodology and being able to request the administrator to consult on such changes;

overseeing the administrator's control framework, the management and operation of the benchmark, and, where the benchmark is based on input data from contributors, the code of conduct referred to in Article 15;

reviewing and approving procedures for cessation of the benchmark, including any consultation about a cessation;

overseeing any third party involved in the provision of the benchmark, including calculation or dissemination agents;

assessing internal and external audits or reviews, and monitoring the implementation of identified remedial actions;

where the benchmark is based on input data from contributors, monitoring the input data and contributors and the actions of the administrator in challenging or validating contributions of input data;

where the benchmark is based on input data from contributors, taking effective measures in respect of any breaches of the code of conduct referred to in Article 15; and

reporting to the relevant competent authorities any misconduct by contributors, where the benchmark is based on input data from contributors, or administrators, of which the oversight function becomes aware, and any anomalous or suspicious input data.

management of operational risk;

adequate and effective business continuity and disaster recovery plans;

contingency procedures that are in place in the event of a disruption to the process of the provision of the benchmark.

ensure that contributors adhere to the code of conduct referred to in Article 15 and comply with the applicable standards for input data;

monitor input data including, where feasible, monitoring input data before publication of the benchmark and validating input data after publication to identify errors and anomalies.

all input data, including the use of such data;

the methodology used for the determination of a benchmark;

any exercise of judgement or discretion by the administrator and, where applicable, by assessors, in the determination of a benchmark, including the reasoning for said judgement or discretion;

the disregard of any input data, in particular where it conformed to the requirements of the benchmark methodology, and the rationale for such disregard;

other changes in or deviations from standard procedures and methodologies, including those made during periods of market stress or disruption;

the identities of the submitters and of the natural persons employed by the administrator for the determination of a benchmark;

all documents relating to any complaint, including those submitted by a complainant; and

telephone conversations or electronic communications between any person employed by the administrator and contributors or submitters in respect of a benchmark.

the administrator makes available the complaints-handling policy through which complaints may be submitted on whether a specific benchmark determination is representative of market value, on a proposed change to the benchmark determination process, on an application of the methodology in relation to a specific benchmark determination, and on other decisions in relation to the benchmark determination process;

complaints are investigated in a timely and fair manner and the outcome of the investigation is communicated to the complainant within a reasonable period of time, unless such communication would be contrary to objectives of public policy or to Regulation (EU) No 596/2014; and

the inquiry is conducted independently of any personnel who may be or may have been involved in the subject-matter of the complaint.

the service provider has the ability, capacity, and any authorisation required by law, to perform the outsourced functions, services or activities reliably and professionally;

the administrator makes available to the relevant competent authorities the identity and the tasks of the service provider that participates in the benchmark determination process;

the administrator takes appropriate action if it appears that the service provider may not be carrying out the outsourced functions effectively and in compliance with applicable law and regulatory requirements;

the administrator retains the necessary expertise to supervise the outsourced functions effectively and to manage the risks associated with the outsourcing;

the service provider discloses to the administrator any development that may have a material impact on its ability to carry out the outsourced functions effectively and in compliance with applicable law and regulatory requirements;

the service provider cooperates with the relevant competent authority regarding the outsourced activities, and the administrator and the relevant competent authority have effective access to data related to the outsourced activities, as well as to the business premises of the service provider, and the relevant competent authority is able to exercise those rights of access;

the administrator is able to terminate the outsourcing arrangements where necessary;

the administrator takes reasonable steps, including contingency plans, to avoid undue operational risk related to the participation of the service provider in the benchmark determination process.

the input data shall be sufficient to represent accurately and reliably the market or economic reality that the benchmark is intended to measure.

The input data shall be transaction data, if available and appropriate. If transaction data is not sufficient or is not appropriate to represent accurately and reliably the market or economic reality that the benchmark is intended to measure, input data which is not transaction data may be used, including estimated prices, quotes and committed quotes, or other values;

the input data referred to in point (a) shall be verifiable;

the administrator shall draw up and publish clear guidelines regarding the types of input data, the priority of use of the different types of input data and the exercise of expert judgement, to ensure compliance with point (a) and the methodology;

where a benchmark is based on input data from contributors, the administrator shall obtain, where appropriate, the input data from a reliable and representative panel or sample of contributors so as to ensure that the resulting benchmark is reliable and representative of the market or economic reality that the benchmark is intended to measure;

the administrator shall not use input data from a contributor if the administrator has any indication that the contributor does not adhere to the code of conduct referred to in Article 15, and in such a case shall obtain representative publicly available data.

criteria that determine who may contribute input data to the administrator and a process for selecting contributors;

a process for evaluating a contributor's input data and for stopping the contributor from providing further input data, or applying other penalties for non-compliance against the contributor, where appropriate; and

a process for validating input data, including against other indicators or data, to ensure its integrity and accuracy.

obtain data from other sources that corroborate that input data; and

ensure that contributors have in place adequate internal oversight and verification procedures.

is robust and reliable;

has clear rules identifying how and when discretion may be exercised in the determination of that benchmark;

is rigorous, continuous and capable of validation including, where appropriate, back-testing against available transaction data;

is resilient and ensures that the benchmark can be calculated in the widest set of possible circumstances, without compromising its integrity;

is traceable and verifiable.

take into account factors including the size and normal liquidity of the market, the transparency of trading and the positions of market participants, market concentration, market dynamics, and the adequacy of any sample to represent the market or economic reality that the benchmark is intended to measure;

determine what constitutes an active market for the purposes of that benchmark; and

establish the priority given to different types of input data.

the key elements of the methodology that the administrator uses for each benchmark provided and published or, when applicable, for each family of benchmarks provided and published;

details of the internal review and the approval of a given methodology, as well as the frequency of such review;

the procedures for consulting on any proposed material change in the administrator's methodology and the rationale for such changes, including a definition of what constitutes a material change and the circumstances in which the administrator is to notify users of any such changes;

an explanation of how the key elements of the methodology laid down in point (a) reflect ESG factors for each benchmark or family of benchmarks, with the exception of interest rate and foreign exchange benchmarks.

advance notice, with a clear time frame, that gives the opportunity to analyse and comment upon the impact of such proposed material changes; and

the comments referred to in point (a) of this paragraph, and the administrator's response to those comments, to be made accessible after any consultation, except where confidentiality has been requested by the originator of the comments.

a clear description of the input data to be provided and the requirements necessary to ensure that input data is provided in accordance with Articles 11 and 14;

identification of the persons that may contribute input data to the administrator and procedures to verify the identity of a contributor and any submitters, as well as authorisation of any submitters that contribute input data on behalf of a contributor;

policies to ensure that a contributor provides all relevant input data;

the systems and controls that a contributor is required to establish, including:

the supervised contributor shall ensure that the provision of input data is not affected by any existing or potential conflict of interest and that, where any discretion is required, it is independently and honestly exercised based on relevant information in accordance with the code of conduct referred to in Article 15;

the supervised contributor shall have in place a control framework that ensures the integrity, accuracy and reliability of input data and that input data is provided in accordance with this Regulation and the code of conduct referred to in Article 15.

controls regarding who may submit input data to an administrator including, where proportionate, a process for sign-off by a natural person holding a position senior to that of the submitter;

appropriate training for submitters, covering at least this Regulation and Regulation (EU) No 596/2014;

measures for the management of conflicts of interest, including organisational separation of employees where appropriate and consideration of how to remove incentives, created by remuneration polices, to manipulate a benchmark;

record-keeping, for an appropriate period of time, of communications in relation to provision of input data, of all information used to enable the contributor to make each submission, and of all existing or potential conflicts of interest including, but not limited to, the contributor's exposure to financial instruments which use a benchmark as a reference;

record-keeping of internal and external audits.

the spot foreign exchange benchmark references a spot exchange rate of a third-country currency that is not freely convertible; and

the spot foreign exchange benchmark is used on a frequent, systematic and regular basis to hedge against adverse foreign exchange rate movements.

the criteria for the choice of the underlying assets, including, where applicable, any criteria for excluding assets;

the criteria and method for the weighting of the underlying assets in the benchmark;

the determination of the decarbonisation trajectory for EU Climate Transition Benchmarks.

the benchmark is used directly or indirectly within a combination of benchmarks as a reference for financial instruments or financial contracts or for measuring the performance of investment funds, having a total value of at least EUR 500 billion on the basis of all the range of maturities or tenors of the benchmark, where applicable;

the benchmark is based on submissions by contributors the majority of which are located in one Member State and is recognised as being critical in that Member State in accordance with the procedure laid down in paragraphs 2, 3, 4 and 5 of this Article;

the benchmark fulfils all of the following criteria:

If a benchmark meets the criteria set out in point (c)(ii) and (iii) but does not meet the criterion set out in point (c)(i), the competent authorities of the Member States concerned together with the competent authority of the Member State where the administrator is established may agree that such benchmark should be recognised as critical under this subparagraph. In any case, the competent authority of the administrator shall consult the competent authorities of the Member States concerned. In the event of disagreement between the competent authorities, the competent authority of the administrator shall decide whether the benchmark should be recognised as critical under this subparagraph, taking into account the reasons for the disagreement. The competent authorities or, in the event of disagreement, the competent authority of the administrator, shall transmit the assessment to the Commission. After receiving the assessment, the Commission shall adopt an implementing act in accordance with this paragraph. In addition, in the event of disagreement, the competent authority of the administrator shall transmit its assessment to ESMA, which may publish an opinion.

the value of financial instruments and financial contracts that reference the benchmark and the value of investment funds referencing the benchmark for measuring their performance within the Member State and their relevance in terms of the total value of financial instruments and of financial contracts outstanding, and of the total value of investment funds, in the Member State;

the value of financial instruments and financial contracts that reference the benchmark and the value of investment funds referencing the benchmark for measuring their performance within the Member State and their relevance in terms of the gross national product of the Member State;

any other figure to assess on objective grounds the potential impact of the discontinuity or unreliability of the benchmark on market integrity, financial stability, consumers, the real economy, or the financing of households and businesses in the Member State.

specify how the nominal amount of financial instruments other than derivatives, the notional amount of derivatives and the net asset value of investment funds are to be assessed, including in the event of an indirect reference to a benchmark within a combination of benchmarks, in order to be compared with the thresholds referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article and in point (a) of Article 24(1);

review the calculation method used to determine the thresholds referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article in the light of market, price and regulatory developments as well as the appropriateness of the classification of benchmarks with a total value of financial instruments, financial contracts, or investment funds referencing them that is close to the thresholds; such review shall take place at least every two years as from 1 January 2018;

specify how the criteria referred to in point (c)(iii) of paragraph 1 of this Article are to be applied, taking into consideration any data which helps assess on objective grounds the potential impact of the discontinuity or unreliability of the benchmark on market integrity, financial stability, consumers, the real economy, or the financing of households and businesses in one or more Member States.

immediately notify its competent authority; and

within four weeks of such notification submit an assessment of how the benchmark:

inform ESMA and the college established under Article 46;

within four weeks following the receipt of that assessment, make its own assessment of how the benchmark is to be transitioned to a new administrator or be ceased to be provided, taking into account the procedure established in accordance with Article 28(1).

the provision of the benchmark has been transitioned to a new administrator;

the benchmark can be ceased to be provided in an orderly fashion; or

the benchmark is no longer critical.

require supervised entities selected in accordance with paragraph 7 of this Article, including entities that are not yet contributors to the relevant critical benchmark, to contribute input data to the administrator in accordance with the administrator's methodology, the code of conduct referred to in Article 15 and other rules. Such requirement shall be in place for an appropriate period of time not exceeding 12 months from the date on which the initial decision requiring mandatory contribution was taken pursuant to paragraph 5 or, for those entities that are not yet contributors, from the date on which the decision requiring mandatory contribution is taken under this point;

extend the period of mandatory contribution by an appropriate period of time not exceeding 12 months, following a review under paragraph 9 of any measures adopted pursuant to point (a) of this paragraph;

determine the form in which, and the time by which, any input data is to be contributed without imposing an obligation on supervised entities to either trade or commit to trade;

require the administrator to change the methodology, the code of conduct referred to in Article 15 or other rules of the critical benchmark.

the contributors are likely to continue contributing input data for at least one year if the measure were revoked, which shall be evidenced by at least:

the provision of the benchmark is able to continue once the contributors mandated to contribute input data have ceased contributing;

an acceptable substitute benchmark is available and users of the critical benchmark can switch to this substitute at minimal costs which shall be evidenced by at least a written report by the administrator detailing the means of transition to a substitute benchmark and the ability and costs to users of transitioning to this benchmark; or

no appropriate alternative contributors can be identified and the cessation of contributions from the relevant supervised entities would weaken the benchmark to such an extent to require the cessation of the benchmark.

benchmarks designated as critical by an implementing act adopted pursuant to point (a) or (c) of Article 20(1);

benchmarks based on the contribution of input data if their cessation or wind-down would significantly disrupt the functioning of financial markets in the Union; and

third-country benchmarks if their cessation or wind-down would significantly disrupt the functioning of financial markets in the Union or pose a systemic risk to the financial system in the Union.

the competent authority for the administrator of that benchmark has issued a public statement, or has published information, in which it is announced that that benchmark no longer reflects the underlying market or economic reality; in the case of a benchmark designated as critical by an implementing act adopted pursuant to point (a) or (c) of Article 20(1), the competent authority shall make such an announcement only where, following the exercise of the powers set out in Article 23, the benchmark still does not reflect the underlying market or economic reality;

the administrator of that benchmark, or a person acting on behalf of that administrator, has issued a public statement, or has published information, or such public statement has been made or such information has been published, in which it is announced that that administrator will commence the orderly wind-down of that benchmark or will cease to provide that benchmark or certain tenors or certain currencies for which that benchmark is calculated permanently or indefinitely, provided that, at the time of the issuance of the statement or the publication of the information, there is no successor administrator that will continue to provide that benchmark;

the competent authority for the administrator of that benchmark or any entity with insolvency or resolution authority over such administrator has issued a public statement, or has published information, in which it is stated that the administrator will commence the orderly wind-down of that benchmark or will cease to provide that benchmark or certain tenors or certain currencies for which that benchmark is calculated permanently or indefinitely, provided that, at the time of the issuance of the statement or the publication of the information, there is no successor administrator that will continue to provide that benchmark; or

the competent authority for the administrator of that benchmark withdraws or suspends the authorisation in accordance with Article 35 or the recognition in accordance with Article 32(8) or requires the cessation of the endorsement in accordance with Article 33(6), provided that, at the time of the withdrawal or suspension or the cessation of endorsement, there is no successor administrator that will continue to provide that benchmark and its administrator will commence the orderly wind-down of that benchmark or will cease to provide that benchmark or certain tenors or certain currencies for which that benchmark is calculated permanently or indefinitely.

no fallback provision; or

no suitable fallback provisions.

it does not provide for a permanent replacement for the benchmark in cessation; or

its application requires consent from third parties that has been denied; or

it provides for a replacement for a benchmark which no longer reflects or significantly diverges from the underlying market or the economic reality that the benchmark in cessation is intended to measure, and its application could have an adverse impact on financial stability.

that has been established by the relevant national authority on the basis of a horizontal assessment of a specific type of contractual arrangement that has been performed following a motivated request of at least one interested party, and after having consulted the relevant stakeholders;

following an assessment in accordance with point (a), one of the parties to the contract or financial instrument has objected to the contractually agreed fallback provision at the latest three months before the cessation of the benchmark; and

following an objection pursuant to point (b), the parties to the contract or financial instrument have not agreed on an alternative replacement for the benchmark at the latest one working day before the cessation of that benchmark.

the replacement or replacements for a benchmark;

the spread adjustment, including the method for determining such spread adjustment, that is to be applied to the replacement for a benchmark in cessation on the date of the replacement for each particular term to account for the effects of the transition or change from the benchmark to be wound down to its replacement;

the corresponding essential conforming changes that are associated with and reasonably necessary for the use or application of a replacement for a benchmark; and

the date from which the replacement or replacements for a benchmark applies.

the competent authority for the administrator of that benchmark has issued a public statement, or has published information, in which it is announced that that benchmark no longer reflects the underlying market or economic reality; the competent authority shall make such an announcement only where, following the exercise of the powers set out in Article 23, the benchmark still does not reflect the underlying market or economic reality;

the administrator of that benchmark, or a person acting on behalf of that administrator, has issued a public statement, or has published information, or such public statement has been made or such information has been published, in which it is announced that that administrator will commence the orderly wind-down of that benchmark or will cease to provide that benchmark or certain tenors or certain currencies for which that benchmark is calculated permanently or indefinitely, provided that, at the time of the issuance of the statement or the publication of the information, there is no successor administrator that will continue to provide that benchmark;

the competent authority for the administrator of that benchmark or any entity with insolvency or resolution authority over such administrator has issued a public statement, or has published information, in which it is stated that that administrator will commence the orderly wind-down of that benchmark or will cease to provide that benchmark or certain tenors or certain currencies for which that benchmark is calculated permanently or indefinitely, provided that, at the time of the issuance of the statement or the publication of the information, there is no successor administrator that will continue to provide that benchmark; or

the competent authority for the administrator of that benchmark withdraws or suspends the authorisation in accordance with Article 35, provided that, at the time of the withdrawal or suspension, there is no successor administrator that will continue to provide that benchmark and its administrator will commence the orderly wind-down of that benchmark or will cease to provide that benchmark or certain tenors or certain currencies for which that benchmark is calculated permanently or indefinitely.

those contracts or financial instruments reference the benchmark in cessation on the date on which the national law designating the replacement for a benchmark becomes applicable; and

those contracts or financial instruments contain no fallback provision or contain a fallback provision that does not provide for a permanent replacement for the benchmark in cessation.

it is used directly or indirectly within a combination of benchmarks as a reference for financial instruments or financial contracts or for measuring the performance of investments funds having a total average value of at least EUR 50 billion on the basis of all the range of maturities or tenors of the benchmark, where applicable, over a period of six months; or

it has no or very few appropriate market-led substitutes and, in the event that the benchmark ceases to be provided or is provided on the basis of input data no longer fully representative of the underlying market or economic reality or unreliable input data, there would be a significant and adverse impact on market integrity, financial stability, consumers, the real economy or the financing of households or businesses in one or more Member States.

the vulnerability of the benchmark to manipulation;

the nature of the input data;

the level of conflicts of interest;

the degree of discretion of the administrator;

the impact of the benchmark on markets;

the nature, scale and complexity of the provision of the benchmark;

the importance of the benchmark to financial stability;

the value of financial instruments, financial contracts or investment funds that reference the benchmark;

the administrator's size, organisational form or structure.

authorisation if it provides or intends to provide indices which are used or intended to be used as benchmarks within the meaning of this Regulation;

registration if it is a supervised entity, other than an administrator, that provides or intends to provide indices which are used or intended to be used as benchmarks within the meaning of this Regulation, on condition that the activity of provision of a benchmark is not prevented by the sectoral discipline applying to the supervised entity and that none of the indices provided would qualify as a critical benchmark; or

registration if it provides or intends to provide only indices which would qualify as non-significant benchmarks.

examine the application for authorisation and adopt a decision to authorise or refuse to authorise the applicant within four months of receipt of a complete application;

examine the application for registration and adopt a decision to register or refuse to register the applicant within 45 working days of receipt of a complete application.

expressly renounces the authorisation or registration or has provided no benchmarks for the preceding 12 months;

has obtained the authorisation or registration, or has endorsed a benchmark, by making false statements or by any other irregular means;

no longer meets the conditions under which it was authorised or registered; or

has seriously or repeatedly infringed the provisions of this Regulation.

the identities of the administrators authorised or registered pursuant to Article 34 and the competent authorities responsible for the supervision thereof;

the identities of administrators that comply with the conditions laid down in Article 30(1), the list of benchmarks referred to in point (c) of Article 30(1) and the third country competent authorities responsible for the supervision thereof;

the identities of the administrators that acquired recognition in accordance with Article 32, the list of benchmarks referred to in Article 32(7) and, where applicable, the third country competent authorities responsible for the supervision thereof;

the benchmarks that are endorsed in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 33, the identities of their administrators, and the identities of the endorsing administrators or endorsing supervised entities.

carry out the on-site inspection or investigation itself;

allow the competent authority which submitted the request to participate in the on-site inspection or investigation;

appoint auditors or experts to support or carry out the on-site inspection or investigation.

administrators of critical benchmarks as referred to in points (a) and (c) of Article 20(1);

administrators of the benchmarks referred to in Article 32.

access to any document and other data in any form, and to receive or take a copy thereof;

require or demand information from any person involved in the provision of, and contribution to, a benchmark, including any service provider to which functions, services or activities in the provision of a benchmark have been outsourced as provided for in Article 10, as well as their principals, and if necessary, summon and question any such person with a view to obtaining information;

request, in relation to commodity benchmarks, information from contributors on related spot markets according, where applicable, to standardised formats and reports on transactions, and direct access to traders' systems;

carry out on-site inspections or investigations, at sites other than the private residences of natural persons;

enter premises of legal persons, without prejudice to Regulation (EU) No 596/2014, in order to seize documents and other data in any form, where a reasonable suspicion exists that documents and other data related to the subject-matter of the inspection or investigation may be relevant to prove a breach of this Regulation. Where prior authorisation is needed from the judicial authority of the Member State concerned, in accordance with national law, such power shall only be used after having obtained that prior authorisation;

require existing recordings of telephone conversations, electronic communications or other data traffic records held by supervised entities;

request the freezing or sequestration of assets or both;

require temporary cessation of any practice that the competent authority considers contrary to this Regulation;

impose a temporary prohibition on the exercise of professional activity;

take all necessary measures to ensure that the public is correctly informed about the provision of a benchmark, including by requiring the relevant administrator or a person that has published or disseminated the benchmark or both to publish a corrective statement about past contributions to or figures of the benchmark.

directly;

in collaboration with other authorities or with market undertakings;

under their responsibility by delegation to such authorities or to market undertakings;

by application to the competent judicial authorities.

any infringement of Article 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19a, 19b, 19c, 21, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29 or 34 where they apply; and

any failure to cooperate or comply in an investigation or with an inspection or request covered by Article 41.

an order requiring the administrator or supervised entity responsible for the infringement to cease the conduct and to desist from repeating that conduct;

the disgorgement of the profits gained or losses avoided because of the infringement where those can be determined;

a public warning which indicates the administrator or supervised entity responsible and the nature of the infringement;

withdrawal or suspension of the authorisation or the registration of an administrator;

a temporary ban prohibiting any natural person, who is held responsible for such infringement, from exercising management functions in administrators or supervised contributors;

the imposition of maximum administrative pecuniary sanctions of at least three times the amount of the profits gained or losses avoided because of the infringement where those can be determined;

in respect of a natural person, maximum administrative pecuniary sanctions of at least:

in respect of a legal person, maximum administrative pecuniary sanctions of at least:

the gravity and duration of the infringement;

the criticality of the benchmark to financial stability and the real economy;

the degree of responsibility of the responsible person;

the financial strength of the responsible person, as indicated, in particular, by the total annual turnover of the responsible legal person or the annual income of the responsible natural person;

the level of the profits gained or losses avoided by the responsible person, insofar as they can be determined;

the level of cooperation of the responsible person with the competent authority, without prejudice to the need to ensure disgorgement of profits gained or losses avoided by that person;

previous infringements by the person concerned;

measures taken, after the infringement, by a responsible person to prevent the repetition of the infringement.

defer publication of the decision until such time as the reasons for that deferral cease to exist;

publish the decision on an anonymous basis in accordance with national law where such anonymous publication ensures an effective protection of the personal data concerned;

not publish the decision at all in the event that the competent authority is of the opinion that publication in accordance with point (a) or (b) will be insufficient to ensure:

the information to be exchanged between competent authorities;

the decision-making process between the competent authorities and the time frame within which each decision has to be taken;

the cases in which the competent authorities must consult each other;

the cooperation to be provided under Article 23(7) and (8).

where a competent authority has not communicated essential information;

where, following a request made under paragraph 3, the competent authority of the administrator has notified the requesting authority that the requirements of that paragraph are not fulfilled or where it has not acted upon such request within a reasonable time;

where the competent authorities have failed to reach an agreement on the matters set out in paragraph 6;

where there is a disagreement concerning the measures to be taken in accordance with Articles 34, 35 and 42;

where there is a disagreement concerning the measures to be taken in accordance with Article 23(6);

where there is a disagreement concerning the measures to be taken in accordance with the third subparagraph of paragraph 8 of this Article.