103. (1) The Commission shall, for the purposes referred to in section 101(1)(h)—

(a) in accordance with this Chapter, provide other supervisory authorities with mutual assistance, and

(b) put in place measures for effective cooperation with those authorities.

(2) The Commission, on receipt by it of a request of another supervisory authority (“requesting supervisory authority”) shall—

(a) without undue delay and no later than one month after receiving the request, take all appropriate measures required to reply to the request, and

(b) inform the requesting supervisory authority of the results of, or progress made in response to, the request.

(3) The measures referred to in subsection (2)(a) include the exercise by the Commission of its powers under Chapters 3, 4 and 5 of Part 6.

(4) (a) The Commission shall not refuse to comply with a request unless—

(i) it is not responsible under the Directive for the subject matter of the request or for the measures it is requested to carry out, or

(ii) compliance with the request would infringe the law of the State or European Union.

(b) The Commission shall provide the requesting supervisory authority concerned with the reasons for its refusal under paragraph (a) to comply with a request.

(5) The Commission, where providing information to a requesting supervisory authority in response to a request, shall, insofar as practicable, and in accordance with any implementing acts to which Article 50(8) of the Directive apply, do so—

(a) by electronic means, and

(b) using a standardised format, if any.

(6) Without prejudice to subsection (7), the Commission shall not charge a fee for any action taken in response to a request for mutual assistance.

(7) The Commission may enter into an agreement with other supervisory authorities on rules to indemnify each other for specific expenditure arising from the provision of mutual assistance in exceptional circumstances.

(8) In this section and section 104—

“mutual assistance” includes—

(a) responding to requests for information, and

(b) undertaking supervisory measures, such as the carrying out of inspections or investigations under Part 6 or consultations;

“request” means a request for mutual assistance referred to in Article 50 of the Directive.