1. The Commission and competent authorities shall cooperate closely with each other and provide each other with mutual assistance in order to implement this Regulation in a consistent and efficient manner.

2. The lead competent authority shall respect the right of the economic operator to be heard at all stages of the process.

3. The lead competent authority shall, at any time and without undue delay, communicate via the information and communication system referred to in Article 7(1) in the event that it discovers new information about suspected forced labour taking place in a territory for which it is not competent pursuant to Article 15.

4. The lead competent authority may request the support of other relevant competent authorities. This may include requesting support in order to contact economic operators whose place of establishment is within the territory of that Member State or whose language of operation is that of a Member State. Other competent authorities that have an interest in the investigation may request to be closely involved in the investigation.

5. A competent authority that has received, through the information and communication system referred to in Article 7 (1), a request for information from another competent authority shall provide an answer within 20 working days of the date of receipt of the request.