(1) In order to facilitate the exercise of the Northern Ireland competent authority's functions under these Regulations -

(a) a Northern Ireland Department may share information with the Northern Ireland competent authority; and

(b) the Northern Ireland competent authority may share information with a Northern Ireland Department.

(2) In this regulation -

(a) "the Northern Ireland competent authority" means the competent authority that is specified for Northern Ireland in column 3 of the table in Schedule 1 in relation to the subsectors specified in column 2 of that table; and

(b) "a Northern Ireland Department" means a department mentioned in Schedule 1 to the Departments Act (Northern Ireland) 2016 [2016 c. 5.].