At the request of the requesting authority, the requested authority shall communicate the information necessary to ensure the correct application of legislation on excise duties, including any information relating to a specific case or specific cases, in particular concerning movements of excise goods within the Union.

For the purposes of communicating the information referred to in paragraph 1, the requested authority shall arrange for the conduct of any administrative enquiries necessary to obtain such information.

The request referred to in paragraph 1 may include a reasoned request for a specific administrative enquiry. If the requested authority decides that no administrative enquiry is necessary, it shall immediately inform the requesting authority of the reasons for its decision.

In order to obtain the information requested or to conduct the administrative enquiry requested, the requested authority or any administrative authority to which it has recourse shall proceed as though acting on its own account or at the request of another authority in its own Member State.

The requested authority may request the requesting authority to provide feedback on the follow-up action taken by the requesting Member State on the basis of the provided information. Where such a request is made, the requesting authority shall, without prejudice to the rules on secrecy and data protection applicable in its Member State, send such feedback as soon as possible, provided that doing so does not impose a disproportionate burden on it.

Requests for information and for administrative enquiries pursuant to Article 8 and replies to such requests shall be exchanged using a mutual administrative assistance document, subject to paragraph 4 of this Article.

Where the computerised system is unavailable, a fall-back mutual administrative assistance document shall be used instead of the mutual administrative assistance document.

Each Member State shall determine the situations in which the computerised system may be considered unavailable.

Where the use of the mutual administrative assistance document is impractical, the exchange of messages may, exceptionally, be carried out in whole or in part by other means. In such cases the message shall be accompanied by an explanation of why the use of the mutual administrative assistance document was impractical.

Documents, of whatever content, to be provided under Article 8 shall be attached to the mutual administrative assistance document referred to in Article 9(1).

However, in the event that this is impossible or impractical, the documents shall be provided by electronic means or otherwise.

The requested authority shall be obliged to provide original documents only where such documents are necessary for the purpose pursued by the requesting authority and where providing them is not contrary to the provisions applicable in the Member State of the requested authority.

The requested authority shall provide the information referred to in Article 8 as quickly as possible, and no later than three months following the date of receipt of the request.

However, where the requested authority is already in possession of that information, the time limit shall be one month.

In certain special categories of cases, time limits different from those provided for in paragraph 1 may be agreed between the requested and the requesting authorities.

Where the requested authority is unable to respond to the request within the time limit provided for in paragraph 1, it shall, within one month, inform the requesting authority using a mutual administrative assistance document of the reasons for its failure to do so and indicate when it expects to be able to respond.

By agreement between the requesting authority and the requested authority and in accordance with the arrangements laid down by the latter, officials authorised by the requesting authority may be present in the offices of the administrative authorities of the requested Member State, or any other place where those authorities carry out their duties, with a view to exchanging the information necessary to ensure the correct application of legislation on excise duties.

Where the requested information is contained in documentation to which the officials of the requested authority have access, the officials of the requesting authority shall be given copies thereof.

By agreement between the requesting authority and the requested authority and in accordance with the arrangements laid down by the latter, officials designated by the requesting authority may be present during the administrative enquiries carried out in the territory of the requested Member State with a view to exchanging the information necessary to ensure the correct application of legislation on excise duties.

Where such agreement is reached, the officials of the requesting authority may have access to the same premises and documents as the officials of the requested authority, through the intermediary of those officials and for the sole purpose of carrying out the administrative enquiry. Officials of the requesting authority shall conduct enquiries or ask questions only with the agreement and under the supervision of officials of the requested authority. They shall not exercise the powers of inspection conferred on officials of the requested authority.

The officials of the requesting authority present in another Member State in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 shall at all times be able to produce a written authority indicating their identity and their official capacity.

With a view to exchanging the information necessary to ensure the correct application of legislation on excise duties, two or more Member States may agree, on the basis of a risk analysis, to conduct simultaneous controls, in their own territory, of the excise duty situation of one or more economic operators or other persons, that are of common or complementary interest, whenever they consider that such controls would be more effective than controls carried out by one Member State only.

The competent authorities which receive a proposal referred to in paragraph 2 shall confirm their agreement to participate in the simultaneous control or shall communicate their reasoned refusal to the proposing competent authority as soon as possible but no later than one month after receipt of the proposal.

Each competent authority which participates in a simultaneous control shall appoint a representative responsible for supervising and coordinating the simultaneous control operation.

After having carried out a simultaneous control, the competent authorities shall inform the central excise liaison offices of the other Member States without delay of any methods or practices discovered during the simultaneous control that were used or suspected of having been used to contravene legislation on excise duties, where such information may be of particular interest to other Member States.

At the request of the requesting authority, the requested authority shall, in accordance with the rules governing similar notifications applicable in its Member State, notify the addressee of all decisions and measures taken by the administrative authorities of the requesting Member State concerning the application of legislation on excise duties.

The requests for notification referred to in paragraph 1 shall mention the subject of the decision or measure to be notified and shall indicate the name, address and any other relevant information for identifying the addressee.

The requested authority shall, without delay, inform the requesting authority of its action on the request for notification referred to in paragraph 1 and notify it of the date of transmission of the decision or measure to the addressee.

Where the requested authority is unable to act on the request for notification referred to in paragraph 1, it shall inform the requesting authority thereof in writing within one month of receipt of the request.

The requested authority shall not refuse to act on such request on account of the content of the decision or measure to be notified.

The requesting authority shall make a request for notification pursuant to this Article only when it is unable to notify the addressee in accordance with the rules governing the notification of the instruments concerned in the requesting Member State, or where such notification would give rise to disproportionate difficulties.

This Article shall not apply to the documents referred to in Article 8 of Council Directive 2010/24/EU of 16 March 2010 concerning mutual assistance for the recovery of claims relating to taxes, duties and other measures

OJ L 84, 31.3.2010, p. 1.