3.17How is information transferred to the competent authority protected?

3.17 How is information transferred to the competent authority protected? Information provided by organisations to their competent authority under Regulation 376/2014 is stored in the competent authority database. Strong protection rules apply to this database (see Sections 2.12, 2.13, 4.3, 4.7 and 4.8). All information contained in a competent authority database is later transferred to the European Central Repository (ECR). The database is subject to even stricter protection rules. Indeed, in addition to the legal provisions to limiting the possible use of the information, the access to the ECR is restricted to regulatory and investigation authorities, to the EASA and to the European Commission. This access is granted by a controlled and restricted personal access code based on unique IP address.