A Competent Official is a named official authorised by the
Central Liaison Office (CLO) to legally exchange excise information
with other authorised officers or offices using the Regulation, for
which (s)he has been authorised pursuant to article 3 (5)
Competent Official status allows officers to discuss specific
cases with similarly authorised officials from other member states
face to face to discuss specific documents or risks.
To receive competent official status the Central Liaison
Office (CLO) Excise will issue a letter of authority
As a Competent Official you can legally directly exchange
excise information under administrative cooperation.
As a Competent Official you must consider whether cooperating
or exchanging excise information under Administrative Cooperation
duplicates arrangements already in existence, i.e. Movement
Verification System, Early Warning System or Excise Mutual
Assistance. Exchanges through the Liaison Department (LD) can be
made using secure Community Communication Network (CCN) mail system
rather than through normal email which is more vulnerable to abuse.
Competent Officials must respond to requests for assistance
within 3 months of receipt (at the very latest) under Article 8 of
The Regulation.
Competent officials must record details of the requests for
information (Article 5) and spontaneous supplies of information
(Article 19) exchanged with the host country.
