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1. The national focal points shall form the interface, and support interactions, between the participating countries and the Agency.

2. With a view to supporting the Agency in achieving its general and specific tasks set out in Articles 4 and 5, respectively, thus contributing to coordinated Union action, each national focal point shall carry out the following tasks:

(a) for the purpose of communicating those data to the Agency, coordinate at national level the activities related to drug-related data collection and monitoring;

(b) collect relevant national data and information in the areas covered by Article 4 in accordance with the national reporting package referred to in Article 6(2) and transmit it to the Agency; in doing so, the national focal point shall bring together experience from different sectors, in particular health, justice and law enforcement, and shall, wherever relevant, cooperate with experts and national organisations, the scientific community, civil society organisations and other relevant stakeholders active in the field of drugs policy;

(c) contribute to monitoring drugs and drug use and reporting thereon, including to international organisations;

(d) support, as appropriate, the development of new epidemiological data sources to further the timely reporting of trends in substance use;

(e) support ad hoc and targeted data collection exercises in relation to new health and security threats;

(f) provide the Agency with information on new trends and challenges in the use of existing psychoactive substances or new combinations of psychoactive substances which pose a potential risk to health and with information on possible measures related to health;

(g) contribute to the exchange of information on, and the early warning system for, new psychoactive substances, in accordance with Chapter III;

(h) contribute to the establishment of relevant indicators and other relevant datasets, including guidelines for their implementation, with a view to obtaining reliable and comparable information at Union level, in accordance with Article 6;

(i) nominate, when requested by the Agency, national experts for specific discussions on relevant indicators and for other ad hoc and targeted data collection exercises;

(j) promote the use of the internationally agreed data collection protocols and standards to monitor drugs and drug use in the country;

(k) present an annual report of its activities to the Agency and other relevant stakeholders;

(l) implement quality assurance mechanisms to ensure the reliability of the data and information it obtains.

3. In accordance with their capacity, the national focal points shall monitor, analyse and interpret relevant information in the areas covered by Article 4. The national focal points shall provide that information and information on policies and solutions applied to the Agency.

4. The national focal points shall establish and maintain the necessary cooperation with relevant national and regional authorities, bodies, agencies and organisations for the collection of the information they need to carry out their tasks pursuant to paragraph 2.

5. When collecting data pursuant to this Article, the national focal points shall ensure, where possible, that the data collected are disaggregated by sex or gender. The national focal points shall consider the gender-sensitive aspects of drugs policy when collecting and presenting data pursuant to this Article. The national focal points shall not transmit any data which would make it possible to identify individuals or small groups of individuals. They shall refrain from transmitting any information relating to specific individuals.