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1. Without prejudice to paragraph 2, the authority responsible for manual verification of different identities shall be:

(a) the competent authority designated in accordance with Article 9(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 for matches that occurred when creating or updating an individual file in the EES in accordance with that Regulation;

(b) the visa authorities referred to in Article 6(1) of Regulation (EC) No 767/2008 for matches that occurred when creating or updating an application file in VIS in accordance with that Regulation;

(c) the ETIAS Central Unit and the ETIAS National Units for matches that occurred when creating or updating an application file in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1240;

(d) the SIRENE Bureau of the Member State for matches that occurred when creating or updating a SIS alert in accordance with Regulations (EU) 2018/1860 and (EU) 2018/1861. The MID shall indicate the authority responsible for the manual verification of different identities in the identity confirmation file.

2. The authority responsible for the manual verification of different identities in the identity confirmation file shall be the SIRENE Bureau of the Member State that created the alert where a link is created to data contained in an alert:

(a) in respect of persons wanted for arrest for surrender or extradition purposes referred to in Article 26 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1862;

(b) on missing or vulnerable persons referred to in Article 32 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1862;

(c) on persons sought to assist with a judicial procedure referred to in Article 34 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1862;

(d) on persons for discreet checks, inquiry checks or specific checks referred to in Article 36 of Regulation (EU) 2018/1862.

3. Without prejudice to paragraph 4 of this Article, the authority responsible for the manual verification of different identities shall have access to the linked data contained in the relevant identity confirmation file and to the identity data linked in the CIR and, where relevant, in SIS. It shall assess the different identities without delay. Once such assessment is completed, it shall update the link in accordance with Articles 31, 32 and 33 and add it to the identity confirmation file without delay.

4. Where the authority responsible for the manual verification of different identities in the identity confirmation file is the competent authority designated in accordance with Article 9(2) of Regulation (EU) 2017/2226 creating or updating an individual file in the EES in accordance with Article 14 of that Regulation, and where a yellow link is created, that authority shall carry out additional verifications. That authority shall, for that purpose only, have access to the related data contained in the relevant identity confirmation file. It shall assess the different identities, update the link in accordance with Articles 31, 32 and 33 of this Regulation and add it to the identity confirmation file without delay. Such manual verification of different identities shall be initiated in the presence of the person concerned, who shall be offered the opportunity to explain the circumstances to the authority responsible, which shall take those explanations into account. In cases in which the manual verification of different identities takes place at the border, it shall take place within 12 hours from the creation of a yellow link under Article 28(4), where possible.

5. Where more than one link is created, the authority responsible for the manual verification of different identities shall assess each link separately.

6. Where data reporting a match were already linked, the authority responsible for the manual verification of different identities shall take into account the existing links when assessing the creation of new links.