Article 4Passenger information unit
1.Each Member State shall establish or designate an authority competent for the prevention, detection, investigation or prosecution of terrorist offences and of serious crime or a branch of such an authority, to act as its passenger information unit (‘PIU’).
2.The PIU shall be responsible for:
(a)collecting PNR data from air carriers, storing and processing those data and transferring those data or the result of processing them to the competent authorities referred to in Article 7;
(b)exchanging both PNR data and the result of processing those data with the PIUs of other Member States and with Europol in accordance with Articles 9 and 10.
3.Staff members of a PIU may be seconded from competent authorities. Member States shall provide the PIUs with adequate resources for them to fulfil their tasks.
4.Two or more Member States (the participating Member States) may establish or designate a single authority to serve as their PIU. Such PIU shall be established in one of the participating Member States and shall be considered the national PIU of all participating Member States. The participating Member States shall agree jointly on the detailed rules for the operation of the PIU and shall respect the requirements laid down in this Directive.
5.Within one month of the establishment of its PIU, each Member State shall notify the Commission thereof, and may modify its notification at any time. The Commission shall publish the notification and any modifications of it in the Official Journal of the European Union.