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1. Competent authorities shall not unduly restrict or hinder the deployment of any element of VHCNs or associated facilities. Member States shall make their best efforts to facilitate that any rules governing the conditions and procedures applicable for granting permits and rights of way, required for the deployment of elements of VHCNs or associated facilities are consistent across the national territory.

2. Competent authorities shall make available, via a single information point in electronic format, all information on the conditions and procedures applicable for granting permits, and rights of way, which are granted via administrative procedures, including any information on exemptions on some or all permits or rights of way required under Union or national law and ways to submit applications in electronic format and retrieve information on the status of the application.

3. Any operator shall have the right to submit, via a single information point in electronic format, applications for all necessary permits or renewals thereof, or rights of way and to retrieve information about the status of its application. Member States may specify detailed procedures to retrieve that information.

4. The competent authorities may, within 15 working days of its receipt, reject applications for permits, including for rights of way, for which the minimum information has not been made available via a single information point pursuant to Article 6(1), first subparagraph, by the same operator which applies for that permit.

5. The competent authorities shall grant or refuse permits, other than rights of way, within 4 months of the date of receipt of a complete permit application.

The competent authorities shall determine the completeness of the application for permits or rights of way within 20 working days of receipt of the application. Competent authorities shall invite the applicant to provide any missing information within that period. The determination by the competent authority that the permit application is complete shall not result in any suspension or interruption of the overall four-month period for the examination of the permit application, starting from the date of receipt of the complete application. The first and second subparagraphs shall be without prejudice to other specific deadlines or obligations laid down for the proper conduct of the procedure that are applicable to the permit-granting procedure, including appeal proceedings, in accordance with Union law or national law in compliance with Union law and without prejudice to rules that grant the applicant additional rights or aim to ensure the fastest possible granting of permits.

Member States shall set out and publish, in advance, via a single information point, the grounds on which the competent authority can, in exceptional and duly substantiated cases, acting on its own motion, extend the deadlines referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph and in paragraph 6. Any extension shall be the shortest possible and shall not exceed four months, except where required to meet other specific deadlines or obligations laid down for the proper conduct of the procedure that are applicable to the permit-granting procedure, including appeal proceedings, in accordance with Union law or with national law in compliance with Union law. An extension shall not be requested in order to obtain missing information which the competent authority has failed to request from the applicant pursuant to the second subparagraph. Any refusal of a permit or a right of way shall be duly substantiated on the basis of objective, transparent, non-discriminatory and proportionate criteria.

6. By way of derogation from Article 43(1), point (a), of Directive (EU) 2018/1972, where rights of way on, over or under public, or where applicable, private property, with the prior authorisation of the owner or in accordance with national law, are required for the deployment of elements of VHCNs or associated facilities in addition to permits, competent authorities shall grant such rights of way within the four-month period or the deadline set by national law, whichever is shorter, from the date of receipt of the complete application except in the case of expropriation.

7. Competent authorities may renew the permit granted to an operator for civil works necessary for the deployment of elements of VHCNs or associated facilities where for objectively justified reasons the civil works could not start or be concluded before the expiration of the validity of the permit. The renewal of the permit shall be granted without additional procedural requirements for the operators.

8. Member States may, inter alia, require permits for the deployment of elements of VHCNs or associated facilities on buildings or sites of architectural, historical, religious or environmental value protected in accordance with national law or where necessary for public safety, security of critical infrastructure or environmental reasons.

9. Permits, other than rights of way, required for the deployment of elements of VHCNs or associated facilities shall not be subject to any fees or charges going beyond administrative costs as provided for, mutatis mutandis, in Article 16 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972.

10. The Commission shall monitor the application of this Article in Member States. To that end, Member States shall report every three years to the Commission on the status of implementation of this Article and on whether the conditions listed therein have been met.

11. The procedure established in this Article shall apply without prejudice to Article 57 of Directive (EU) 2018/1972.

12. This Article shall be without prejudice to the possibility of Member States to introduce further provisions for competent authorities to speed up the permit-granting procedure.