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1. Member States and the Commission shall be jointly responsible for the implementation of the evaluation and monitoring mechanism, with the contribution of the relevant Union bodies, offices and agencies referred to in Article 7 in accordance with their respective mandates.

2. The Commission shall have an overall coordination role in relation to the establishment of the annual and multiannual evaluation programmes, the drafting of questionnaires, the setting of schedules of visits, the conducting of visits and the drafting of evaluation reports and recommendations. It shall also ensure that the follow-up and monitoring activities are carried out.

3. The Council shall adopt recommendations in cases of serious deficiencies, first-time evaluations, thematic evaluations and where the evaluated Member State substantially contests the draft evaluation report containing draft recommendations. As part of the monitoring phase of the evaluation and monitoring mechanism, the Council shall adopt implementing decisions on closure of the action plans in cases of serious deficiencies and first-time evaluations. The Council shall carry out its political role in relation to the governance of the Schengen area by discussing the reports submitted by the Commission in accordance with Article 25, including on the state of play with regard to the implementation of action plans, and by holding political discussions concerning the effective implementation of the Schengen acquis and proper functioning of the area without internal border control. To this end, the Commission and the Council shall cooperate fully throughout all stages of the evaluation and monitoring mechanism carried out under this Regulation. In particular, the Commission shall provide the Council with relevant and timely information in relation to the programming and implementation of the evaluation and monitoring activities.

4. Member States and the Commission shall cooperate fully at all stages of evaluations in order to ensure the effective implementation of this Regulation.

5. Member States shall take all measures, general or particular, to support and assist the Commission and the teams in the implementation of evaluation and monitoring activities. Member States shall ensure that the Commission and the teams carrying out evaluation and monitoring activities are able to perform their tasks effectively, in particular by allowing the Commission and the teams to address enquiries to relevant persons directly and by providing full and unimpeded access to all areas, premises and documents required for the evaluation or monitoring activity, including national and internal guidelines and instructions. Access to relevant classified information shall be granted to team members and observers having appropriate security clearance issued by a competent authority.

6. The Commission shall be responsible for making the necessary travel arrangements to and from the visited Member State for the Commission representatives and Member State experts in the teams. The Commission shall bear the travel and accommodation costs for experts participating in the visits and the trainee expert referred to in Article 16(2). The visited Member State shall be responsible for providing the necessary transport on location, except for unannounced visits.