Article 16 Follow-up and monitoring

Within three months of adoption of the recommendations referred to in Article 15, the evaluated Member State shall provide the Commission and the Council with an action plan to remedy any deficiencies identified in the evaluation report. If the recommendations conclude that the evaluated Member State is seriously neglecting its obligations, that Member State shall provide its action plan within one month of adoption of those recommendations. The Commission shall transmit such action plan to the European Parliament.

After consulting the on-site team or the questionnaire team, as appropriate, the Commission shall present its assessment of the adequacy of the action plan to the Council within one month of receiving the action plan from the evaluated Member State. The other Member States shall be invited to comment on the action plan.

The evaluated Member State shall report to the Commission on the implementation of its action plan within six months of adoption of the recommendations and shall thereafter continue to report every three months until the action plan is fully implemented.

Notwithstanding the six-month period for reporting on the implementation of an action plan referred to in paragraph 3, if the recommendations conclude that the evaluated Member State is seriously neglecting its obligations, that Member State shall report on the implementation of its action plan within three months of adoption of the recommendations.

Depending on the seriousness of the deficiencies identified and the measures taken to remedy them, the Commission may schedule announced on-site revisits to verify implementation of the action plan. The Commission shall invite at least four experts who have participated in the on-site visit to participate in the revisit. The Commission may invite observers to participate in the revisit. The Commission shall establish the programme of the revisit. The evaluated Member State shall be notified of the programme at least one month before the revisit is due to take place. The Commission may also schedule unannounced on-site revisits.

The Commission shall inform the European Parliament and the Council on a regular basis about the implementation of the action plans or improvement measures referred to in this Article.

If an on-site visit reveals a serious deficiency deemed to constitute a serious threat to public policy or internal security within the area without internal border controls, the Commission, on its own initiative or at the request of the European Parliament or of a Member State, shall inform the European Parliament and the Council as soon as possible thereof.

Where the Member State has been found to be compliant, but where the recommendations contain indications for possible further improvements in accordance with Article 14(3)(b), the evaluated Member State shall provide to the Commission its assessment on a possible implementation of such indications within six months of adoption of the recommendations.