1. The Member States may participate in the Programme. Member States which participate in the Programme shall contribute with their technical competence, know-how and assistance, in particular in the field of safety and security, or, where appropriate and possible, by making available to the Union the data, information, services and infrastructure in their possession or located on their territory, including by ensuring an efficient and obstacle free access and use of Copernicus in-situ data and cooperating with the Commission to improve the availability of Copernicus in-situ data required by the Programme, taking into account applicable licences and obligations.
2. The Commission may entrust, by means of contribution agreements, specific tasks to Member State organisations, where such organisations have been designated by the Member State concerned. The Commission shall adopt the contribution decisions regarding the contribution agreements by means of implementing acts. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 107(2).
3. In certain duly justified circumstances, for the tasks referred to in Article 29 the Agency may entrust, by means of contribution agreements, specific tasks to Member State organisations, where such organisations have been designated by the Member State concerned.
4. The Member States shall take all the necessary measures to ensure the smooth functioning of the Programme, including by helping to protect, at the appropriate level, the frequencies required for the Programme.
5. The Member States and the Commission may cooperate to widen the uptake of data, information and services provided by the Programme’s components.
6. Whenever possible, the contribution of Member States to the User Forum referred to in Article 107(6) shall be based on a systematic and coordinated consultation of end user communities at national level, in particular regarding Galileo, EGNOS and Copernicus.
7. The Member States and the Commission shall cooperate in order to develop the in-situ component of Copernicus and ground calibration services necessary for the uptake of space systems and to facilitate the use of Copernicus in-situ data and reference data sets to their full potential, building on existing capacities.
8. In the field of security, the Member States shall perform the tasks referred to in Article 34(6).