(1) For the purposes of this Act, the Ministry of Justice of the Republic is designated as the Central Authority with responsibility to

(a) make and receive requests for assistance;

(b) execute or arrange for the execution of the requests;

(c) certify or authenticate, or arrange for the certification and authentication of, any document or other material supplied in response to a request for assistance where necessary;

(d) facilitate the orderly and rapid disposition of requests for assistance;

(e) negotiate and agree on conditions related to requests for assistance and ensure compliance with the conditions;

(f) transmit the evidentiary material gathered in response to a request for assistance to the Central Authority of the foreign State, or to authorize any other competent authority to do so, and

(g) perform any other function necessary for effective assistance to be provided or received.

(2) A competent authority shall not make or receive a mutual legal assistance request except through the Central Authority.

(3) Communication between the Central Authority and the Central Authority of a foreign State shall be made directly.

(4) Without limiting subsection (2), where a request is made or received by a competent authority, the request shall be referred by the authority concerned to the respective Central Authority as soon as practicable.