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Decisions regarding the violation of Article 3 1. The lead competent authority shall assess all information and evidence gathered pursuant to Chapter III, and, on that basis, establish whether the products, that have been placed or made available on the market or are being exported, are in violation of Article 3, within a reasonable period of time from the date it initiated the investigation pursuant to Article 18(1). The lead competent authority shall endeavour to adopt the decision referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article or close the investigation within 9 months from the date it initiated the investigation.

2. Notwithstanding paragraph 1 of this Article, the lead competent authority may establish that Article 3 has been violated on the basis of any other facts available where it was not possible to gather information and evidence pursuant to Article 17(1) and Article 18(3), in particular where, in response to a request for information, an economic operator or a public authority:

(a) refuses to provide the information requested without a valid justification;

(b) fails to provide the information requested within the time limit prescribed without a valid justification;

(c) provides incomplete or incorrect information with the objective of blocking the investigation;

(d) provides misleading information; or (e) otherwise impedes the investigation, including when a risk of forced labour imposed by state authorities is identified during the preliminary phase of the investigation or during the investigation.

3. Where the lead competent authority cannot establish that the products concerned have been placed or made available on the market or are being exported in violation of Article 3, it shall close the investigation and inform the economic operators that have been subject to the investigation thereof. It shall also inform all other competent authorities through the information and communication system referred to in Article 7(1). Closing the investigation shall not preclude the initiation of a new investigation into the same product and economic operator in the case of new relevant information.

4. Where the lead competent authority establishes that the products concerned have been placed or made available on the market or are being exported in violation of Article 3, it shall, without delay, adopt a decision containing:

(a) a prohibition on the placing or making available of the products concerned on the Union market and on exporting them;

(b) an order requiring the economic operators that have been subject to the investigation to withdraw the products that have already been placed or made available on the Union market or to remove content from an online interface referring to the products or listings of the products concerned;

(c) an order requiring the economic operators that have been subject to the investigation to dispose of the products concerned in accordance with Article 25 or, if parts of the product which are found to be in violation of Article 3 are replaceable, an order requiring those economic operators to dispose of those parts of that product. Where relevant, the prohibition referred to in point (a) of the first subparagraph and the order referred to in point (c) of the first subparagraph shall identify the parts of the product found to be in violation of Article 3, that must be replaced in order for the product to be placed or made available on the market or exported.

5. By way of derogation from paragraph 4, first subparagraph, point (c), and, where appropriate, in order to prevent disruptions to a supply chain of strategic or critical importance for the Union, the lead competent authority may refrain from imposing an order to dispose of the product concerned pursuant to paragraph 4. The lead competent authority may instead order that the product concerned be withheld for a defined period of time, which shall be no longer than the time necessary to eliminate forced labour with regard to the product concerned, at the cost of the economic operators. If economic operators demonstrate, during that period of time, that they have eliminated forced labour from the supply chain with regard to the product concerned, without changing that product and by bringing to an end the forced labour identified in the decision referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article, the lead competent authority shall review its decision in accordance with Article 21. If economic operators do not demonstrate, during that period of time, that they have eliminated forced labour from the supply chain with regard to the product concerned, without changing that product and by bringing to an end the forced labour identified in the decision referred to in paragraph 4, point (c) of that paragraph shall apply.

6. Where the Commission acts as the lead competent authority, the decision referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article shall be adopted by means of an implementing act. Such implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 35(2).

7. The lead competent authority shall notify the decision referred to in paragraph 4 of this Article to all of the economic operators it is addressed to and communicate it to all competent authorities and, where applicable, to the Commission through the information and communication system referred to in Article 7(1).

8. Decisions taken by a lead competent authority of a Member State, pursuant to paragraph 4, shall be recognised and enforced by competent authorities in the other Member States, insofar as they relate to products with the same identification information and as originating from the same supply chain which has been found to be using forced labour.