Council Regulation (EC) No 485/2008 (repealed)Show full title

Article 15

1. In accordance with the relevant national laws, Commission officials shall have access to all documents prepared either with a view to or following the scrutiny organised under this Regulation and to the data held, including those stored in the data-processing systems. Those data shall be provided upon request on an appropriate data support medium.

2. The scrutinies referred to in Article 2 shall be carried out by the officials of the Member States.

Officials of the Commission may participate in these scrutinies. They may not themselves exercise the powers of scrutiny accorded to national officials; however, they shall have access to the same premises and to the same documents as the officials of the Member States.

3. In the case of scrutinies taking place under Article 7, officials of the requesting Member State may be present, with the agreement of the requested Member State, at the scrutiny in the requested Member State and have access to the same premises and the same documents as the officials of that Member State.

Officials of the requesting Member State present at scrutinies in the requested Member State must at all times be able to furnish proof of their official capacity. The scrutinies shall at all times be carried out by officials of the requested Member State.

4. Where national provisions concerning criminal procedure reserve certain acts for officials specifically designated by the national law, neither the officials of the Commission, nor the officials of the Member State referred to in paragraph 3, shall take part in these acts. In any event, they shall not take part in, in particular, visits to the home or the formal interrogation of persons in the context of the criminal law of the Member State. They shall, however, have access to information thus obtained.