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1. The CIS shall also include a specific database called the ‘Customs files identification database’ (FIDE). Subject to the provisions of this Title, all the provisions of this Regulation relating to the CIS shall also apply to the FIDE, and any reference to the CIS shall include that database.

2. The objectives of the FIDE shall be to help to prevent operations in breach of customs legislation and of agricultural legislation applicable to goods entering or leaving the customs territory of the Community and to facilitate and accelerate their detection and prosecution.

3. The purpose of the FIDE shall be to allow the Commission, when it opens a coordination file within the meaning of Article 18 or prepares a Community mission in a third country within the meaning of Article 20, and the competent authorities of a Member State designated as regards administrative enquiries in accordance with Article 29, when they open an investigation file or investigate one or more persons or businesses, to identify the competent authorities of the other Member States or the Commission departments which are or have been investigating the persons or businesses concerned, in order to achieve the objectives specified in paragraph 2 by means of information on the existence of investigation files.

4. If the Member State or the Commission making a search in the FIDE needs fuller information on the registered investigation files on persons or businesses, it shall ask for the assistance of the supplier Member State.

5. The customs authorities of the Member States may use the FIDE within the framework of customs cooperation provided for in Articles 29 and 30 of the Treaty on European Union. In such a case, the Commission shall ensure the technical management of the database.