1. Once a request for consultation has been received pursuant to Article 138(4) of Directive 2009/138/EC, the ESRB Secretariat shall immediately notify the members of the General Board, the Steering Committee and the assessment team via Darwin of such request.

2. Within ten ECB working days following the request for consultation, the assessment team shall prepare a draft response to the request for consultation which shall be submitted by the ESRB Secretariat to the Steering Committee for consideration via written procedure.

3. Within the timeline referred to in the previous paragraph, a member of the General Board may indicate, within the first two ECB working days following the notification of General Board, that its authority would like to participate in the assessment team, as an observer, if it is not yet represented.

4. The Steering Committee shall provide comments on the draft response within two ECB working days following its submission by the ESRB Secretariat. Substantial comments which have been provided by the Steering Committee shall be assessed by the assessment team and may be reflected in the draft response to the General Board.