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1. Member States shall ensure that requests for information submitted by their Single Point of Contact and, where their national law so provides, the designated law enforcement authorities to the Single Point of Contact of another Member State comply with the requirements set out in paragraphs 2 to 6. Member States shall submit to the Commission a list of their designated law enforcement authorities. Member States shall inform the Commission where there are changes to that list. The Commission shall publish online a compilation of those lists and keep it up to date. Member States shall ensure that where their designated law enforcement authorities submit a request for information to the Single Point of Contact of another Member State, at the same time, they send a copy of that request to their Single Point of Contact.

2. Member States may permit their designated law enforcement authorities not to send, on a case-by-case basis, a copy of a request for information to their Single Point of Contact at the same time as submitting it to the Single Point of Contact of another Member State in accordance with paragraph 1 where it would jeopardise one or more of the following:

(a) an ongoing highly sensitive investigation for which the processing of information requires an appropriate level of confidentiality;

(b) terrorism cases not involving emergency or crisis management situations;

(c) the safety of an individual.

3. Member States shall ensure that requests for information are submitted to the Single Point of Contact of another Member State only where there are objective reasons to believe that:

(a) the requested information is necessary for and proportionate to achieving the purpose referred to in Article 1(1), first subparagraph; and (b) the requested information is available to that other Member State.

4. Member States shall ensure that any request for information submitted to the Single Point of Contact of another Member State specifies whether it is urgent and, if so, gives reasons for the urgency. Such requests for information shall be considered urgent where, having regard to all relevant facts and circumstances of the case at hand, there are objective reasons to believe that the requested information is one or more of the following:

(a) essential for the prevention of an immediate and serious threat to the public security of a Member State;

(b) necessary in order to prevent an imminent threat to life or the physical integrity of a person;

(c) necessary to adopt a decision that might involve the maintenance of restrictive measures amounting to a deprivation of liberty;

(d) at imminent risk of losing relevance if not provided urgently and is considered important for the prevention, detection or investigation of criminal offences.

5. Member States shall ensure that requests for information submitted to the Single Point of Contact of another Member State contain all necessary details to allow for their adequate and rapid processing in accordance with this Directive, including at least the following:

(a) a specification of the requested information that is as detailed as reasonably possible under the given circumstances;

(b) a description of the purpose for which the information is requested, including a description of the facts and indication of the underlying offence;

(c) the objective reasons for which it is believed that the requested information is available to the requested Member State;

(d) an explanation of the connection between the purpose for which the information is requested and any natural or legal person or entity to which the information relates, where applicable;

(e) the reasons for which the request is considered urgent, where applicable, in accordance with paragraph 4;

(f) restrictions on the use of the information contained in the request for purposes other than those for which it has been submitted.

6. Member States shall ensure that requests for information are submitted to the Single Point of Contact of another Member State in one of the languages included in the list established by that other Member State in accordance with Article 11.