The responsible Member State, whose competent authority or authorities, designated in accordance with paragraph 1 of this Article, are responsible for a given aircraft operator, shall be determined pursuant to Commission Regulation (EC) No 748/2009 (
6
). For aircraft operators not attributed to a Member State in that Regulation, the responsible Member State shall be determined pursuant to the rules laid down in Article 18a of Directive 2003/87/EC. The Commission may support the Member States in the attribution process. To that end, the Commission may request the assistance of Eurocontrol and may conclude any appropriate agreement with Eurocontrol to that effect.