Article 31

Administrative sanctions

1. Member States shall lay down rules on penalties for infringements of this Regulation. Those penalties shall be effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Member States shall without delay notify the Commission of those provisions and any subsequent amendment affecting them.

2. When determining the administrative sanction and the level of the administrative fine, competent authorities shall consider all relevant circumstances, including, where appropriate:

(a) the gravity and duration of the infringement and the permanence of damages caused by the infringement;

(b) previous infringements by the natural or legal person responsible for the infringement;

(c) the material or non-material damage caused by, or through, the infringement, including financial or economic loss and adverse effects upon other services, and relevant criteria for the impact of an infringement, such as the number of users affected, or the magnitude of the loss incurred by a third party as a result of the infringement;

(d) the intent or negligence on the part of the perpetrator of the infringement;

(e) measures taken by the Union space operator to prevent or mitigate the damage;

(f) the level of cooperation with the competent authorities and any obstruction of inspections, audits or other monitoring activities of competent authorities, following the discovery of the infringement;

(g) the importance of the profits gained, or of the losses avoided, by the natural or legal person responsible for the infringement;

(h) the need for the administrative fine to have a deterrent effect.

3. Competent authorities shall set out the reasoning for their enforcement measures.

4. The supervisory measures shall be effective, dissuasive and proportionate, considering all circumstances of each individual case. Before adopting a supervisory measure, the competent authorities shall inform the Union space operators of their preliminary findings and shall allow reasonable time for Union space operators to submit observations.

5. Member States shall ensure that competent authorities have the power to directly bring infringements of this Regulation before a judicial body and that they are entitled to take part, in their own right, in all types of legal proceedings regarding the enforcement of this Regulation, including by lodging appeals.

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