1.For the purpose of exchanging information relating to the offences referred to in Articles 3 to 8, Member States shall ensure that they have an operational national point of contact available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Member States shall also ensure that they have procedures in place so that urgent requests for assistance are promptly dealt with and the competent authority replies within eight hours of receipt, by at least indicating whether the request will be answered and the form of such an answer and the estimated time within which it will be sent. Member States may decide to make use of the existing networks of operational points of contact.
2.Member States shall inform the Commission, Europol and Eurojust of their appointed point of contact referred to in paragraph 1. They shall update that information as necessary. The Commission shall forward that information to the other Member States.