Procedure for the exchange of information between Member States

1. For the investigation of the road-safety-related traffic offences referred to in Article 2, the Member State shall grant other Member States' national contact points, referred to in paragraph 2 of this Article, access to the following national VRD, with the power to conduct automated searches thereon:

data relating to vehicles; and

data relating to owners or holders of the vehicle.

The data elements referred to in points (a) and (b) which are necessary to conduct a search shall be in compliance with Annex I.

2. For the purposes of the exchange of data 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.

3. When conducting a search in the form of an outgoing request, the national contact point of the Member State of the offence shall use 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 listed in Article 2 of this Directive.

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 which are not used for the purposes of this Directive. Member States shall ensure that such exchange of information is conducted in a cost-efficient and secure manner. Member States shall ensure the security and protection of the data transmitted, as far as possible using existing software applications such as the one referred to in Article 15 of Decision 2008/616/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 own costs arising from the administration, use and maintenance of the software applications referred to in paragraph 4.

DIRECTIVE (EU) 2015/413 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 11 March 2015 facilitating cross-border exchange of information on road-safety-related traffic offences ANNEX I ANNEX II