Article 5Obligations of traders

1. Traders that are not SMEs (‘non-SME traders’) shall be considered as non-SME operators and shall be subject to obligations and provisions in Articles 3, 4 and 6, Articles 8 to 13, Article 16(8) to (11) and Article 18 with regard to the relevant commodities and relevant products that they make available on the market.

2. Traders that are SMEs (‘SME traders’) shall make available relevant products on the market only if they are in possession of the information required under paragraph 3.

3. SME traders shall collect and keep the following information relating to the relevant products they intend to make available on the market:

(a)

the name, registered trade name or registered trade mark, the postal address, the email address and, if available, a web address of the operators or the traders who have supplied the relevant products to them, as well as the reference numbers of the due diligence statements associated to those products;

(b)

the name, registered trade name or registered trade mark, the postal address, the email address and, if available, a web address of the operators or the traders to whom they have supplied the relevant products.

4. SME traders shall keep the information referred to in paragraph 3 for at least five years from the date of the making available on the market and shall provide that information to the competent authorities upon request.

5. SME traders that obtain or are made aware of relevant new information, including substantiated concerns, indicating that a relevant product that they have made available on the market is at risk of not complying with this Regulation shall immediately inform the competent authorities of the Member States in which they made the relevant product available on the market as well as traders to whom they supplied the relevant product.

6. Traders, whether or not they are SMEs, shall offer all necessary assistance to the competent authorities to facilitate the carrying out of the checks under Articles 18 and 19, including access to premises and the making available of documentation and records.