1. The competent authorities shall take, in performing their tasks, the necessary measures to ensure compliance with this Regulation.
2. Operators, undertakings, mine operators and importers shall provide the competent authorities with all assistance necessary to enable or facilitate the performance of the tasks of the competent authorities under this Regulation, in particular as regards presentation of documentation or records, access to the site and, where the site is located offshore, transport to or from the site.
3. The competent authorities shall cooperate with each other and with the Commission and may cooperate with authorities of third countries, in order to ensure compliance with this Regulation. The Commission shall set up a network of competent authorities to foster cooperation, with the necessary arrangements for exchanging information, in particular, on monitoring, regulating and compliance, and best practices and to allow for consultations. The contact points established within the competent authorities shall support those activities.
4. Where reports are to be made public in accordance with this Regulation, the competent authorities shall make them publicly available free of charge, on a designated website and in a freely accessible, downloadable and machine readable format.
Where information is withheld on one or more of the grounds referred to in Article 4 of Directive 2003/4/EC or, where applicable, under Union law on the protection of personal data, the competent authorities shall indicate the type of information that is withheld and the reasons therefor.