Article 18 Professional secrecy

Any confidential information received, exchanged or transmitted pursuant to this Regulation shall be subject to the conditions of professional secrecy laid down in paragraphs 2 and 3.

The obligation of professional secrecy shall apply to all persons who work or have worked for the entities referred to in Article 12(2) F1..., or for auditors and experts instructed by the F2FCA. No confidential information that F3those persons receive in the course of their duties shall be divulged to any person or authority, except in summary or aggregate form such that an individual counterparty, trade repository or any other person cannot be identified, without prejudice to national criminal or tax law or to this Regulation.

Without prejudice to F4the law applying in any part of the United Kingdom, F5where the competent authorities receive confidential information pursuant to this Regulation F6they may use it only in the performance of F7their duties and for the exercise of their functions, within the scope of this Regulation or, in the case of other authorities, bodies or natural or legal persons, for the purpose for which such information was provided to them or in the context of administrative or judicial proceedings specifically relating to the exercise of those functions, or both. Where F8the competent authorities or another authority, body or person communicating information consents thereto, the authority receiving the information may use it for other non-commercial purposes.

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Paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 shall not prevent the competent authorities from exchanging or transmitting confidential information in accordance with any provision of the law applying in any part of the United Kingdom.