(22)The effectiveness and efficiency of the mutual assistance mechanism should be improved. Requested information should be provided within the time limits set out in this Regulation, and necessary investigation and enforcement measures should be adopted in a timely manner. Competent authorities should reply to information and enforcement requests within set periods, unless otherwise agreed. The obligations of the competent authority within the mutual assistance mechanism should remain intact, unless it is likely that enforcement actions and administrative decisions taken at national level outside the mutual assistance mechanism would ensure the swift and effective cessation or prohibition of the intra-Union infringement. Administrative decisions in that regard should be understood as decisions giving effect to the measures taken to bring about the cessation or the prohibition of the intra-Union infringement. In those exceptional cases, competent authorities should be entitled to refuse to comply with a request for enforcement measures submitted under the mutual assistance mechanism.