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1. Member States shall designate or establish a Coin National Analysis Centre (CNAC) in accordance with their national law and practice.

2. The competent national authorities shall permit the examination by the CNAC of suspected counterfeit coins and shall without delay provide the necessary examples requested by the CNAC of each type of suspected counterfeit coin for analysis and identification and such technical and statistical data as are in their possession. The CNAC shall send the European Technical and Scientific Centre (ETSC) every new type of suspected counterfeit coin corresponding to the criteria adopted by the European Technical and Scientific Centre; to that end the European Central Bank shall provide the CNAC with such technical and statistical data relating to counterfeit euro coins as are in its possession. For the purpose of facilitating the checking for authenticity of circulating euro coins, the transporting of counterfeit coins between the competent national authorities as well as the institutions and bodies of the European Union shall be permitted. During transportation, the counterfeit coins shall be accompanied at all times by transport orders received for that purpose from the abovementioned authorities, institutions and bodies. ◄ ◄

3. Paragraph 2 shall be applied in such a way that it does not prevent suspected counterfeit coins from being used or retained as evidence in criminal proceedings. The competent national authorities may however transmit to the CNAC, and, where appropriate, to the ETSC, part of a batch of these coins for examination or testing. ◄ 4. The ETSC shall analyse and classify every new type of counterfeit euro coin. To that end, the ETSC shall have access to the technical and statistical data stored at the ECB on counterfeit euro coins. The ETSC shall communicate the relevant final results of its analysis to the competent national authorities and, according to its areas of responsibility, to the European Central Bank. The European Central Bank shall communicate those results to Europol, in accordance with the agreement referred to in Article 3(3).