Procedure for the exchange of information between Member States
Article 4
1
For the investigation of the road safety related traffic offences referred to in Article 2, the Member States shall allow other Member States' national contact points, as referred to in paragraph 3 of this Article, access to the following national VRD, with the power to conduct automated searches on:
a
data relating to vehicles; and
b
data relating to owners or holders of the vehicle.
The data elements referred to in points (a) and (b) which are necessary to conduct the search shall be in compliance with Annex I.
2
Any searches in the form of outgoing requests shall be conducted by the national contact point of the Member State of the offence using a full registration number.
Those searches shall be conducted in compliance with the procedures as described in Chapter 3 of the Annex to Decision 2008/616/JHA, except for point 1 of Chapter 3 of the Annex to Decision 2008/616/JHA, for which Annex I to this Directive shall apply.
The Member State of the offence shall, under this Directive, use the data obtained in order to establish who is personally liable for road safety related traffic offences referred to in Articles 2 and 3.
3
For the purposes of the exchange of data as referred to in paragraph 1, each Member State shall designate a national contact point. The powers of the national contact points shall be governed by the applicable law of the Member State concerned.
4
Member States shall take all necessary measures to ensure that the exchange of information is carried out by interoperable electronic means without exchange of data involving other databases. Member States shall ensure that this exchange of information is conducted in a cost efficient and secure manner and ensure the security and protection of the data transmitted, as far as possible using existing software applications such as the one especially designed for the purposes of Article 12 of Decision 2008/615/JHA, and amended versions of those software applications, in compliance with Annex I to this Directive and with points 2 and 3 of Chapter 3 of the Annex to Decision 2008/616/JHA. The amended versions of the software applications shall provide for both online real-time exchange mode and batch exchange mode, the latter allowing for the exchange of multiple requests or responses within one message.
5
Each Member State shall bear its costs arising from the administration, use and maintenance of the software applications referred to in paragraph 4.