Article 8Obligations of market surveillance authorities
1.Market surveillance authorities shall carry out regular checks to verify that vehicles, systems, components and separate technical units comply with the relevant requirements. Such checks shall be performed on an adequate scale by means of documentary checks and, where appropriate, laboratory tests and on-road tests conducted on the basis of statistically relevant samples.
When carrying out such checks, market surveillance authorities shall take account of:
(a)established principles of risk assessment;
(b)substantiated complaints; and
(c)any other relevant information, including the information exchanged in the Forum and testing results published by recognised third parties that meet the requirements laid down by the implementing acts referred to in Article 13(10).
2.Without prejudice to paragraph 1, the market surveillance authorities of each Member State shall carry out at least a minimum number of tests on vehicles per year. That minimum number of tests per Member State shall be one for every 40 000 new motor vehicles registered in that Member State in the preceding year, but shall not be less than five tests.
Each test shall verify compliance with the applicable regulatory acts listed in Annex II.
3.Market surveillance authorities carrying out more than five tests per year shall carry out at least 20 % of the minimum number of tests in the form of emission-related tests comparable to type-approval tests covering all applicable emissions-related requirements to the tested type laid down in the regulatory acts listed in Annex II.
4.The market surveillance authority of one Member State may agree with the market surveillance authority of another Member State that the market surveillance authority of that other Member State carries out the tests required under paragraphs 2 and 3.
5.The market surveillance authority of a Member State may agree with the Commission that the Commission carries out tests required under paragraph 3 at the expense of that Member State. Any tests carried out under this paragraph shall count towards the minimum number of tests required under paragraph 2.
6.Each Member State shall prepare annually a comprehensive overview of its planned market surveillance checks which it shall submit to the Forum no later than 1 March.
7.Every two years, each Member State shall draw up a report of its findings following any compliance verification checks it has carried out in the previous two years. That report shall be submitted to the Forum by 30 September of the year following the end of the two-year period concerned.
8.Market surveillance authorities shall require economic operators to make available to the authorities such documentation, information and other technical specifications, including access to software and algorithms, that the authorities consider necessary for the purpose of carrying out the market surveillance activities.
9.For type-approved vehicles, systems, components and separate technical units, market surveillance authorities shall take due account of certificates of conformity, type-approval marks or type-approval certificates presented by economic operators.
10.Market surveillance authorities shall take appropriate measures to alert users within the territories of their Member States within an adequate timeframe of hazards that they or the Commission have identified in relation to any vehicle, system, component or separate technical unit so as to prevent or reduce the risk of injury or other damage, including by making such information available on the website of the market surveillance authority.
Market surveillance authorities shall cooperate with economic operators regarding actions that could prevent or reduce the risks caused by vehicles, systems, components or separate technical units that those operators have made available on the market.
11.Where the market surveillance authorities of one Member State decide to withdraw a vehicle, system, component or separate technical unit from the market in accordance with Chapter XI, they shall inform the economic operator concerned and the relevant approval authority.
12.Market surveillance authorities shall carry out their duties independently and impartially. They shall observe confidentiality in order to protect commercial secrets, subject to the obligation laid down in Article 9(4) to make information available to the Commission and to other applicable disclosure requirements laid down in Union law in order to protect the interests of users in the Union.
13.The market surveillance authorities of the different Member States shall coordinate their market surveillance activities, cooperate with each other and shall share the results of those activities with each other and with the Forum. Where appropriate, the market surveillance authorities shall agree on work-sharing and specialisation.
14.Where more than one authority in a Member State is responsible for market surveillance and external border controls, those authorities shall cooperate efficiently and effectively, and shall share information relevant to their respective roles and functions.
15.The Commission may adopt implementing acts laying down common criteria for establishing the adequate scale of the compliance verification checks referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article and laying down common criteria for the format of the overview and the reporting referred to respectively in paragraphs 6 and 7 of this Article. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 83(2).