Without prejudice to Article 52 paragraph 5 below, in each Commission department in which EUCI is handled or stored at the level of CONFIDENTIEL UE/EU CONFIDENTIAL and SECRET UE/EU SECRET, a responsible local EUCI registry shall be identified to ensure that EUCI is handled in accordance with this Decision.

The EUCI registry managed by the Secretariat-General shall be the Commission's Central EUCI Registry. It shall act as:

• the Local EUCI Registry for the Commission's Secretariat-General,

• the EUCI registry for the private offices of Members of the Commission, unless these have a designated local EUCI registry,

• the EUCI registry for Directorates-General or services which do not have a local EUCI registry,

• the main point of entry and exit for all information classified RESTREINT UE/EU RESTRICTED and up to including SECRET UE/EU SECRET exchanged between the Commission and its services and third States and international organisations, and, when provided for in specific arrangements, for other Union institutions, agencies and bodies.

Within the Commission, a registry shall be designated by the Commission Security Authority to act as the central receiving and dispatching authority for information classified TRES SECRET UE/EU TOP SECRET. Where necessary, subordinate registries may be designated to handle that information for registration purposes.

The subordinate registries may not transmit TRES SECRET UE/EU TOP SECRET documents directly to other subordinate registries of the same central TRES SECRET UE/EU TOP SECRET registry or externally without the express written approval of the latter.

EUCI registries shall be established as Secured Areas as defined in Chapter 3, and accredited by the Commission's Security Accreditation Authority (SAA).