1.A transport undertaking which complies with the requirements laid down in Article 3 shall, upon application, be authorised to engage in the occupation of road transport operator. The competent authority shall ascertain that an undertaking which submits an application satisfies the requirements laid down in that Article.
2.The competent authority shall record in the national electronic register referred to in Article 16 the data relating to undertakings which it authorises and which are referred to in points (a) to (d) of the first subparagraph of Article 16(2).
3.The time limit for the examination of an application for authorisation by a competent authority shall be as short as possible and shall not exceed 3 months from the date on which the competent authority receives all documents necessary to assess the application. The competent authority may extend this time limit for one additional month in duly justified cases.
4.Until 31 December 2012, the competent authority shall verify, in case of any doubt when assessing the good repute of an undertaking, whether at the time of application the designated transport manager or managers are declared, in one of the Member States, unfit to manage the transport activities of an undertaking pursuant to Article 14.
From 1 January 2013, when assessing the good repute of an undertaking, the competent authority shall verify, by accessing the data referred to in point (f) of the first subparagraph of Article 16(2), either by direct secure access to the relevant part of the national registers or by request, whether at the time of the application the designated transport manager or managers are declared, in one of the Member States, unfit to manage the transport activities of an undertaking pursuant to Article 14.
5.Undertakings with an authorisation to engage in the occupation of road transport operator shall, within a period of 28 days or less, as determined by the Member State of establishment, notify the competent authority which granted the authorisation of any changes to the data referred to in paragraph 2.