1.
Member States shall ensure that, in addition to the notification obligation provided for in Article 23, notifications can be submitted to the CSIRTs or, where applicable, the competent authorities, on a voluntary basis, by:
(a)
essential and important entities with regard to incidents, cyber threats and near misses;
(b)
entities other than those referred to in point (a), regardless of whether they fall within the scope of this Directive, with regard to significant incidents, cyber threats and near misses.
2.
1Member States shall process the notifications referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article in accordance with the procedure laid down in Article 23. 2Member States may prioritise the processing of mandatory notifications over voluntary notifications.
3Where necessary, the CSIRTs and, where applicable, the competent authorities shall provide the single points of contact with the information about notifications received pursuant to this Article, while ensuring the confidentiality and appropriate protection of the information provided by the notifying entity. 4Without prejudice to the prevention, investigation, detection and prosecution of criminal offences, voluntary reporting shall not result in the imposition of any additional obligations upon the notifying entity to which it would not have been subject had it not submitted the notification.
