Article 59 — Alerts and preventive action

1. Where a competent authority of a Member State becomes aware of a risk of serious disruption in the supply of a crisis-relevant product or has concrete and reliable information of any other relevant risk factor or event materially affecting the supply of a crisis-relevant product, it shall alert the Board without undue delay. 2. In order to determine whether a risk of serious disruption in the supply of a crisis-relevant product should trigger an alert as referred to in paragraph 1, Member States shall take into account the following: (a) the market position of economic operators that could be affected by the disruption; (b) the anticipated duration of the potential disruption; (c) the geographical area and the proportion of the internal market affected by the potential disruption and its possible cross-border effects, as well as its possible impact on particularly vulnerable or exposed geographical areas; and (d) the impact of the potential disruption on the supply of crisis-relevant products. 3. Where the Board or the Commission become aware of a risk of serious disruption in the supply of a crisis-relevant product or has concrete and reliable information of any other relevant risk factor or event materially affecting the supply of a crisis-relevant product, including on the basis of early-warning indicators, upon an alert pursuant to paragraph 1 or from international partners, the Commission shall, without undue delay, carry out the following preventive actions: (a) convene an extraordinary meeting of the Board to coordinate the following actions: (i) discuss the severity of the potential disruptions to the availability and supply of the crisis-relevant products concerned; (ii) recommend to the Commission to initiate action in accordance with Chapters II and III; (iii) discuss approaches and exchange best practices of the competent authorities of Member States, including to assess the state of preparedness of the main suppliers of crisis-relevant products; (iv) invite Member States to enter into dialogue with stakeholders of the Union’s manufacturing capacities necessary for the supply of crisis-relevant products with a view to identifying, preparing and possibly coordinating preventive measures; (v) discuss whether the activation of the supply-crisis state referred to in Article 60 would be necessary and proportionate; (b) on behalf of the Union, after consulting the Board, enter into consultations or cooperation with relevant third countries and international organisations with a view to seeking cooperative solutions to avoid or address supply chain disruptions, in compliance with international obligations, which may involve, where appropriate, carrying out coordination in relevant international fora; (c) ensure synergies with relevant Union programmes and legal acts. 4. This Article is without prejudice to the right of each Member State to protect the essential interests of its security in accordance with Article 346(1), point (a), TFEU.