Regulation (EU) 2019/1896 of the European Parliament and of the CouncilShow full title

SECTION 2 U.K. Information exchange and cooperation

Article 11 U.K. Duty to cooperate in good faith

The Agency, the national authorities responsible for border management, including coast guards to the extent that they carry out border control tasks, and the national authorities responsible for return shall be subject to a duty to cooperate in good faith and an obligation to exchange information.

Article 12 U.K. Obligation to exchange information

1. In order to perform the tasks conferred on them by this Regulation, the Agency, the national authorities responsible for border management, including coast guards to the extent that they carry out border control tasks, and the national authorities responsible for return shall, in accordance with this Regulation and other relevant Union and national law regarding the exchange of information, share in a timely and accurate manner all necessary information.

2. The Agency shall take appropriate measures to facilitate the exchange of information relevant to its tasks with the Commission and the Member States.

Where information is relevant to the performance of its tasks, the Agency shall exchange that information with other relevant Union bodies, offices and agencies for the purpose of risk analysis, collecting statistical data, assessing the situation in third countries, training and the support to Member States in connection with contingency planning. For that purpose, the necessary tools and structures shall be developed between the Union bodies, offices and agencies.

3. The Agency shall take all necessary measures to facilitate the exchange of information relevant for its tasks with Ireland and the United Kingdom where that information relates to the activities in which they participate in accordance with Article 70 and Article 100(5).

Article 13 U.K. National contact points

1. Each Member State shall appoint a national contact point for communication with the Agency on all matters pertaining to the activities of the Agency, without prejudice to the role of the national coordination centres. The national contact points shall be reachable at all times and shall ensure the timely dissemination of all information from the Agency to all the relevant authorities within the Member State concerned, in particular the members of the management board and the national coordination centre.

2. Member States may designate up to two staff members representing their national contact point to be assigned to the Agency as liaison officers. The liaison officers shall facilitate communication between the national contact point and the Agency and may, where necessary, attend relevant meetings.

3. The Agency shall provide liaison officers with the necessary premises within its headquarters and with adequate support for the performance of their duties. All other costs that arise in connection with the deployment of liaison officers shall be covered by the Member State. The management board shall specify the rules and conditions of the deployment, as well as the rules concerning adequate support to be provided.

Article 14 U.K. Communication network

1. The Agency shall establish and maintain a communication network in order to provide communication and analytical tools and allow for the exchange of sensitive non-classified and classified information in a secure manner and in near real time with, and among, the national coordination centres.

Any system or application using the communication network shall comply with Union law on data protection throughout its life cycle.

The communication network shall be operational twenty-four hours a day and seven days a week and shall allow for:

(a) bilateral and multilateral information exchange in near real time;

(b) audio and video conferencing;

(c) secure handling, storing, transmission and processing of sensitive non-classified information;

(d) secure handling, storing, transmission and processing of EU classified information up to the level of CONFIDENTIEL UE/EU CONFIDENTIAL or equivalent national classification levels, ensuring that classified information is handled, stored, transmitted and processed in a separate and duly accredited part of the communication network.

2. The Agency shall provide technical support and ensure that the communication network is permanently available and can support the communication and information system managed by the Agency.

Article 15 U.K. Information exchange systems and applications managed by the Agency

1. The Agency may take all necessary measures to facilitate the exchange of information relevant to its tasks with the European Parliament, the Council, the Commission, the Member States and, where appropriate, other Union institutions, and the Union bodies, offices and agencies and international organisations listed in Article 68(1) and third countries as referred to in Article 71.

2. The Agency shall develop, deploy and operate an information system capable of exchanging classified and sensitive non-classified information with the actors referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, and of exchanging personal data referred to in Articles 86 to 91 in accordance with Article 92.

3. The Agency shall deploy the information systems referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article on the communication network referred to in Article 14 as appropriate.

Article 16 U.K. Technical standards for information exchange

The Agency shall develop technical standards in cooperation with the Member States in order to:

(a)

interconnect the communication network referred to in Article 14 with national networks used for establishing the national situational pictures referred to in Article 25 and other relevant information systems for the purpose of this Regulation;

(b)

develop, and establish interfaces between, relevant information exchange systems and software applications of the Agency and of the Member States for the purpose of this Regulation;

(c)

broadcast situational pictures and, as appropriate, specific situational pictures as referred to in Article 27 and ensure communication between relevant units and centres of competent national authorities and with the teams deployed by the Agency by using various means of communication such as satellite communications and radio networks;

(d)

report the position of own assets, making the best possible use of the technological development of the satellite navigation system established under the Galileo programme in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 1285/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council(1).

Article 17 U.K. Information assurance

Member States shall ensure via their national coordination centre and under the supervision of the competent national authorities that their national authorities, agencies and other bodies, when using the communication network referred to in Article 14 and the information exchange systems of the Agency:

(a)

have proper and continuous access to the relevant systems and networks of the Agency or to systems and networks connected to them;

(b)

comply with the relevant technical standards referred to in Article 16;

(c)

apply equivalent security rules and standards as those applied by the Agency for the handling of classified information;

(d)

exchange, process and store sensitive non-classified and classified information in compliance with Article 92.

(1)

Regulation (EU) No 1285/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on the implementation and exploitation of European satellite navigation systems and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 876/2002 and Regulation (EC) No 683/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 347, 20.12.2013, p. 1).