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1. By 23 June 2022, each Member State shall update, where necessary, the designation of one national competent authority which shall be responsible for facilitating and coordinating the permit granting process for projects on the Union list.

2. The responsibilities of the national competent authority referred to in paragraph 1 or the tasks related to it may be delegated to, or carried out by, another authority, per project on the Union list or per particular category of projects on the Union list, provided that:

(a) the national competent authority notifies the Commission of that delegation and the information therein is published by either the national competent authority or the project promoter on the website referred to in Article 9(7);

(b) only one authority is responsible per project on the Union list, and it is the sole point of contact for the project promoter in the process leading to the comprehensive decision for a given project on the Union list, and coordinates the submission of all relevant documents and information.

The national competent authority may retain the responsibility to establish time limits, without prejudice to the time limits set in Article 10(1) and (2).

3. Without prejudice to relevant requirements under Union and international law and, to the extent it does not contradict them, national law, the national competent authority shall facilitate the issuing of the comprehensive decision. The comprehensive decision shall be issued within the time limits set in Article 10(1) and (2) and in accordance with one of the following schemes:

(a) integrated scheme: the comprehensive decision shall be issued by the national competent authority and shall be the sole legally binding decision arising from the statutory permit granting procedure. Where other authorities are concerned by the project, they may, in accordance with national law, give their opinion as input to the procedure, which shall be taken into account by the national competent authority;

(b) coordinated scheme: the comprehensive decision comprises multiple individual legally binding decisions issued by several authorities concerned, which shall be coordinated by the national competent authority. The national competent authority may establish a working group where all concerned authorities are represented in order to draw up a detailed schedule for the permit granting process in accordance with Article 10(6), point (b), and to monitor and coordinate its implementation. The national competent authority shall, after consulting the other authorities concerned, where applicable in accordance with national law, and without prejudice to time limits set in Article 10(1) and (2), establish on a case-by-case basis a reasonable time limit within which the individual decisions shall be issued. The national competent authority may take an individual decision on behalf of another national authority concerned, where the decision by that authority is not delivered within the time limit and where the delay cannot be adequately justified; or, where provided under national law, and to the extent that this is compatible with Union law, the national competent authority may consider that another national authority concerned has either given its approval or refusal for the project where the decision by that authority is not delivered within the time limit. Where provided under national law, the national competent authority may disregard an individual decision of another national authority concerned if it considers that the decision is not sufficiently substantiated with regard to the underlying evidence presented by the national authority concerned; in doing so, the national competent authority shall ensure that the relevant requirements under Union and international law are respected and shall provide reasons for its decision;

(c) collaborative scheme: the comprehensive decision shall be coordinated by the national competent authority. The national competent authority shall, after consulting the other authorities concerned, where applicable in accordance with national law, and without prejudice to time limits set in Article 10(1) and (2), establish on a case-by-case basis a reasonable time limit within which the individual decisions shall be issued. It shall monitor compliance with the time limits by the authorities concerned.

Member States shall implement the schemes in a manner which, according to national law, contributes to the most efficient and timely issuing of the comprehensive decision. The competence of the authorities concerned can either be incorporated into the competence of the national competent authority designated in accordance with paragraph 1 or the authorities concerned can maintain, to a certain extent, their independent competence in line with the respective permitting scheme chosen by the Member State in accordance with this paragraph to facilitate the issuing of the comprehensive decision and cooperate with the national competent authority accordingly. Where an authority concerned does not expect to deliver an individual decision within the set time limit, that authority shall immediately inform the national competent authority, providing reasons for the delay. Subsequently, the national competent authority shall set another time limit within which that individual decision shall be issued, in compliance with the overall time limits set in Article 10(1) and (2).

Member States shall choose among the three schemes referred to in points (a), (b) and (c) of the first subparagraph to facilitate and coordinate their procedures and shall implement the scheme which is most effective for them in light of national specificities in their planning and permit granting processes. Where a Member State chooses the collaborative scheme, it shall inform the Commission of its reasons.

4. Member States may apply the schemes set out in paragraph 3 to onshore and offshore projects on the Union list.

5. Where a project on the Union list requires decisions to be taken in two or more Member States, the relevant national competent authorities shall take all necessary steps for efficient and effective cooperation and communication among themselves, including the steps referred to in Article 10(6). Member States shall endeavour to provide joint procedures, particularly with regard to the assessment of environmental impacts.

6. The relevant national competent authorities of the Member States involved in a project on the Union list belonging to one of the priority offshore grid corridors set out in Section 2 of Annex I shall jointly designate among themselves a unique point of contact for project promoters per project, which shall be responsible for facilitating the exchange of information between the national competent authorities on the permit granting process of the project, with the aim of facilitating that process as well as the issuance of decisions by the relevant national competent authorities. The unique points of contact may act as a repository aggregating the existing documents pertaining to the projects.