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1. In principle, each marine casualty or incident shall be subject to only one investigation carried out by a Member State or a lead investigating Member State with the participation of any other substantially interested Member State. In cases of safety investigations involving two or more Member States, the Member States concerned shall therefore cooperate with a view to rapidly agreeing which of them is to be the lead investigating Member State. They shall make every effort to agree on the procedures to investigate. In the framework of this agreement, other substantially interested States shall have equal rights and access to witnesses and evidence as the Member State conducting the safety investigation. They shall also have the right to see their point of view taken into consideration by the lead investigating Member State.

The conduct of parallel safety investigations into the same marine casualty or incident shall be strictly limited to exceptional cases. In such cases, Member States shall notify the Commission of the reasons for conducting such parallel safety investigations. Member States conducting parallel safety investigations shall cooperate with each other. In particular, the safety investigation authorities involved shall exchange any pertinent information gathered in the course of their respective safety investigations in a timely manner, in particular in order to reach, as far as possible, shared conclusions. Member States shall abstain from any measure which could unduly preclude, suspend or delay the conduct of a safety investigation falling within the scope of this Directive.

1a. During the conduct of the safety investigation, substantially interested Member States shall assist, to the extent practical, the marine safety investigating Member State or States with access to relevant information for the safety investigation. The investigator or investigators carrying out a safety investigation shall, if it is considered to be necessary, also be granted access to information held by government surveyors, coastguard officers, ship traffic service operators, pilots and other marine personnel of the substantially interested State, in accordance with its national law.

2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1, each Member State shall remain responsible for the safety investigation and coordination with other substantially interested Member States until such time as it is mutually agreed which of them is to be the lead investigating State.

3. Without prejudice to its obligations under this Directive and international law, a Member State may, on a case-by-case basis, delegate by mutual agreement to another Member State the task of leading a safety investigation or specific tasks for the conduct of such an investigation.

4. When a ro-ro passenger ship or high-speed passenger craft is involved in a marine casualty or incident, the safety investigation procedure shall be launched by the Member State in whose territorial sea or internal waters, as defined in UNCLOS, the marine casualty or incident occurs. If the marine casualty or incident occurs in other waters, the safety investigation procedure shall be launched by the last Member State visited by that ro-ro passenger ship or high-speed passenger craft. The Member State that launched the safety investigation procedure shall remain responsible for the safety investigation and for the coordination with other substantially interested Member States until it is mutually agreed which of those Member States is to be the lead investigating Member State.