Respondents in eRFI can have two roles:
Principal addressee
The Principal Addressee is responsible to fill in, sign and submit the responses to the European Commission within the prescribed deadline. If needed, the Principal Addressee can re-assign the Request For Information to a colleague who is better placed to respond on behalf of the entity. The Principal Addressee can invite collaborators to assist when answering the questions of the RFI.
Collaborators
Collaborators can work in the questionnaire at the same time as the Principal Addressee. Collaborators can edit the answers of the RFI, ask the Commission for clarifications on specific questions and export a copy of the answers before they are submitted to the Commission. Collaborators cannot request a Deadline extension extension, cannot send an Opt-out request and cannot sign and submit the final responses to the Commission.
Inadvertent disclosure of confidential information
Sharing an RFI with collaborators happens outside the eRFI platform and remains the responsibility of the Principal Addressee, particularly regarding confidentiality and collaboration with third parties. Before accessing the RFI, collaborators first have to acknowledge they have read the legal basis and sign the non-disclosure agreement, if applicable.
Who is initially assigned as the Principal Addressee
The Commission often addresses RFIs to multiple employees of the same entity, to ensure that it will be dealt with swiftly. In practice, the same invitation email is sent to one addressee with multiple colleagues in copy.
Whoever accesses eRFI first using the access link provided in the email, becomes automatically the Principal Addressee and the rest of the employees will become collaborators, given that the Principal Addressee approve their access.
This is done to protect any confidential answers that the Principal Addressee has introduced in the meantime. If the initial assignment is wrong, the Principal Addressee can Re-assign the RFI to another colleague who will become the new Principal Addressee. Also additional employees who need access to the RFI can be invited as Collaborators.
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