Article 15 Confidentiality and appropriate use of information

1.Member States and organisations, in accordance with their national law, and the Agency shall take the necessary measures to ensure the appropriate confidentiality of the details of occurrences received by them pursuant to Articles 4, 5 and 10. Each Member State, each organisation established in a Member State, or the Agency shall process personal data only to the extent necessary for the purposes of this Regulation and without prejudice to national legal acts implementing Directive 95/46/EC.

2.Without prejudice to the provisions relating to the protection of safety information in Articles 12, 14 and 15 of Regulation (EU) No 996/2010, information derived from occurrence reports shall be used only for the purpose for which it has been collected. Member States, the Agency and organisations shall not make available or use the information on occurrences:

(a)in order to attribute blame or liability; or

(b)for any purpose other than the maintenance or improvement of aviation safety.

3.The Commission, the Agency and the competent authorities of the Member States, when discharging their obligations under Article 14 in relation to the information contained in the European Central Repository, shall:

(a)ensure the confidentiality of the information; and

(b)limit the use of the information to what is strictly necessary in order to discharge their safety-related obligations without attributing blame or liability; in this respect, the information shall be used in particular for risk management and for analysis of safety trends which may lead to safety recommendations or actions, addressing actual or potential safety deficiencies.

4.Member States shall ensure that their competent authorities referred to in Article 6(3) and their competent authorities for the administration of justice cooperate with each other through advance administrative arrangements. These advance administrative arrangements shall seek to ensure the correct balance between the need for proper administration of justice, on the one hand, and the necessary continued availability of safety information, on the other.