Following the initiation of proceedings, the Commission shall commence an investigation.

The Commission may request Member States to provide information, and Member States shall take whatever steps are necessary in order to give effect to any such request. Where that information is of general interest or where its transmission was requested by a Member State, the Commission shall forward it to all Member States provided that it is not confidential; if it is confidential, the Commission shall forward a non-confidential summary.

In the event of an investigation restricted to an outermost region of the Union, the Commission may request the competent local authorities to provide the information referred to in paragraph 2 via the Member State concerned.

The investigation shall, whenever possible, be concluded within six months of its initiation. In exceptional circumstances, that time limit may be extended by a further period of three months.