Regulation (EU) No 1024/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on administrative cooperation through the Internal Market Information System and repealing Commission Decision 2008/49/EC (the IMI Regulation) (Text with EEA relevance)Text with EEA relevance

• Published date: 16 February 2019
• Official Gazette Publication: Gazzetta ufficiale dell’Unione europea, L 316, 14 novembre 2012,Journal officiel de l’Union européenne, L 316, 14 novembre 2012,Diario Oficial de la Unión Europea, L 316, 14 de noviembre de 2012

02012R1024 — EN — 21.02.2022 — 007.001

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►B REGULATION (EU) No 1024/2012 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 25 October 2012 on administrative cooperation through the Internal Market Information System and repealing Commission Decision 2008/49/EC (‘the IMI Regulation’) (Text with EEA relevance) (OJ L 316 14.11.2012, p. 1)

Amended by:

		Official Journal
		No	page	date
►M1	DIRECTIVE 2013/55/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 20 November 2013	L 354	132	28.12.2013
►M2	DIRECTIVE 2014/60/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 15 May 2014	L 159	1	28.5.2014
►M3	DIRECTIVE 2014/67/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 15 May 2014	L 159	11	28.5.2014
►M4	REGULATION (EU) 2016/1191 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 6 July 2016	L 200	1	26.7.2016
M5	REGULATION (EU) 2016/1628 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 14 September 2016	L 252	53	16.9.2016
►M6	REGULATION (EU) 2018/1724 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 2 October 2018	L 295	1	21.11.2018
►M7	DIRECTIVE (EU) 2020/1057 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 15 July 2020	L 249	49	31.7.2020
►M8	REGULATION (EU) 2020/1055 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 15 July 2020	L 249	17	31.7.2020

Corrected by:

►C1 Corrigendum, OJ L 231, 6.9.2019, p. 29 (2016/1628)

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REGULATION (EU) No 1024/2012 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

of 25 October 2012

on administrative cooperation through the Internal Market Information System and repealing Commission Decision 2008/49/EC (‘the IMI Regulation’)

(Text with EEA relevance)

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PROVISIONS

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Article 1

Subject matter

This Regulation lays down rules for the use of an Internal Market Information System (‘IMI’) for administrative cooperation among the IMI actors, including the processing of personal data.

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Article 2

Establishment of IMI

IMI is hereby formally established.

Article 3

Scope

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1.

IMI shall be used for exchanges of information, including of personal data, among the IMI actors and for the processing of that information for the purposes of either of the following:

(a)

administrative cooperation required in accordance with the acts listed in the Annex;

(b)

administrative cooperation subject to a pilot project carried out in accordance with Article 4.

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2.

Nothing in this Regulation shall have the effect of rendering mandatory the provisions of Union acts which have no binding force.

Article 4

Expansion of IMI

1.

The Commission may carry out pilot projects in order to assess whether IMI would be an effective tool to implement provisions for administrative cooperation of Union acts not listed in the Annex. The Commission shall adopt an implementing act to determine which provisions of Union acts shall be subject to a pilot project and to set out the modalities of each project, in particular the basic technical functionality and procedural arrangements required to implement the relevant administrative cooperation provisions. That implementing act shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 24(3).

2.

The Commission shall submit an evaluation of the outcome of the pilot project, including data protection issues and effective translation functionalities, to the European Parliament and the Council. Where appropriate, that evaluation may be accompanied by a legislative proposal to amend the Annex to expand the use of IMI to the relevant provisions of Union acts.

Article 5

Definitions

For the purposes of this Regulation, the definitions laid down in Directive 95/46/EC and Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 shall apply.

In addition, the following definitions shall also apply:

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(a)

‘IMI’ means the electronic tool provided by the Commission to facilitate administrative cooperation among the IMI actors;

(b)

‘administrative cooperation’ means the collaboration between IMI actors by exchanging and processing information for the purpose of better application of Union law;

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(c)

‘internal market area’ means a legislative or functional field of the internal market, within the meaning of Article 26(2) TFEU, in which IMI is used in accordance with Article 3 of this Regulation;

(d)

‘administrative cooperation procedure’ means a pre-defined workflow provided for in IMI allowing IMI actors to communicate and interact with each other in a structured manner;

(e)

‘IMI coordinator’ means a body appointed by a Member State to perform support tasks necessary for the efficient functioning of IMI in accordance with this Regulation;

(f)

‘competent authority’ means any body established at either national, regional or local level and registered in IMI with specific responsibilities relating to the application of national law or Union acts listed in the Annex in one or more internal market areas;

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(g)

‘IMI actors’ means the competent authorities, the IMI coordinators, the Commission and the Union bodies, offices and agencies;

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(h)

‘IMI user’ means a natural person working under the authority of an IMI actor and registered in IMI on behalf of that IMI actor;

(i)

‘external actors’ means natural or legal persons other than IMI users that may interact with IMI only through separate technical means and in accordance with a specific pre-defined workflow provided for that purpose;

(j)

‘blocking’ means applying technical means by which personal data become inaccessible to IMI users via the normal interface of IMI;

(k)

‘formal closure’ means applying the technical facility provided by IMI to close an administrative cooperation procedure.

CHAPTER II

FUNCTIONS AND RESPONSIBILITIES IN RELATION TO IMI

Article 6

IMI coordinators

1.

Each Member State shall appoint one national IMI coordinator whose responsibilities shall include:

(a)

registering or validating registration of IMI coordinators and competent authorities;

(b)

acting as the main contact point for IMI actors of the Member States for issues relating to IMI, including providing information on aspects relating to the protection of personal data in accordance with this Regulation;

(c)

acting as interlocutor of the Commission for issues relating to IMI including providing information on aspects relating to the protection of personal data in accordance with this Regulation;

(d)

providing knowledge, training and support, including basic technical assistance, to IMI actors of the Member States;

(e)

ensuring the efficient functioning of IMI as far as it is within their control, including the provision of timely and adequate responses by IMI actors of the Member States to requests for administrative cooperation.

2.

Each Member State may, in addition, appoint one or more IMI coordinators in order to carry out any of the tasks listed in paragraph 1, in accordance with its internal administrative structure.

3.

Member States shall inform the Commission of the IMI coordinators appointed in accordance with paragraphs 1 and 2 and of the tasks for which they are responsible. The Commission shall share that information with the other Member States.

4.

All IMI coordinators may act as competent authorities. In such cases an IMI coordinator shall have the same access rights as a competent authority. Each IMI coordinator shall be a controller with respect to its own data processing activities as an IMI actor.

Article 7

Competent authorities

1.

When cooperating by means of IMI, competent authorities, acting through IMI users in accordance with administrative cooperation procedures, shall ensure that, in accordance with the applicable Union act, an adequate response is provided within the shortest possible period of time, and in any event within the deadline set by that act.

2.

A competent authority may invoke as evidence any information, document, finding, statement or certified true copy which it has received electronically by means of IMI, on the same basis as similar information obtained in its own country, for purposes compatible with the purposes for which the data were originally collected.

3.

Each competent authority shall be a controller with respect to its own data processing activities performed by an IMI user under its authority and shall ensure that data subjects can exercise their rights in accordance with Chapters III and IV, where necessary, in cooperation with the Commission.

Article 8

Commission

1.

The Commission shall be responsible for carrying out the following tasks:

(a)

ensuring the security, availability, maintenance and development of the software and IT infrastructure for IMI;

(b)

providing a multilingual system, including existing translation functionalities, training in cooperation with the Member States, and a helpdesk to assist Member States in the use of IMI;

(c)

registering the national IMI coordinators and granting them access to IMI;

(d)

performing processing operations on personal data in IMI, where provided for in this...