1.The annual accounts, duly approved, and the annual report, together with the opinion submitted by the person responsible for auditing the accounts, shall be published as laid down by the laws of each Member State in accordance with Article 3 of Directive 68/151/EEC.
The laws of a Member State may, however, permit the annual report not to be published as stipulated above. It must be possible to obtain a copy of all or part of any such report upon request. The price of such a copy must not exceed its administrative cost.
1a. The Member State of a company or firm referred to in Article 1 (1), second and third subparagraphs (entity concerned) may exempt that entity from publishing its accounts in accordance with Article 3 of Directive 68/151/EEC, provided that those accounts are available to the public at its head office, where:
all the members having unlimited liability of the entity concerned are the companies referred to in the first subparagraph of Article 1 (1) governed by the laws of Member States other than the Member State whose law governs that entity and none of those companies publishes the accounts of the entity concerned with its own accounts; or
all the members having unlimited liability are companies which are not governed by the laws of a Member State but which have a legal form comparable to those referred to in Directive 68/151/EEC.
Copies of the accounts must be obtainable upon request. The price of such a copy may not exceed its administrative cost. Appropriate sanctions must be provided for failure to comply with the publication obligation imposed in this paragraph.
2.By way of derogation from paragraph 1, the Member States may permit the companies referred to in Article 11 to publish:
abridged balance sheets showing only those items preceded by letters and roman numerals in Articles 9 and 10, disclosing separately the information required in brackets in D (II) under ‘Assets’ and C under ‘Liabilities’ in Article 9 and in D (11) in Article 10, but in total for all the items concerned; and
abridged notes on their accounts in accordance with Article 44.
Article 12 shall apply.
In addition, the Member States may relieve such companies from the obligation to publish their profit and loss accounts and annual reports and the opinions of the persons responsible for auditing the accounts.
3.The Member States may permit the companies mentioned in Article 27 to publish:
abridged balance sheets showing only those items preceded by letters and roman numerals in Articles 9 and 10 disclosing separately, either in the balance sheet or in the notes on the accounts:
C (I) (3), C (II) (1), (2), (3) and (4), C (III) (1), (2), (3), (4) and (7), D (II) (2), (3) and (6) and D (III) (1) and (2) under ‘Assets’ and C, (1), (2), (6), (7) and (9) under 'Liabilities in Article 9,
C (I) (3), C (II) (1), (2), (3) and (4), C (III) (1), (2), (3), (4) and (7), D (II) (2), (3) and (6), D (III) (1) and (2), F (1), (2), (6), (7) and (9) and (I) (1), (2), (6), (7) and (9) in Article 10,
the information required in brackets in D (II) under ‘Assets’ and C under ‘Liabilities’ in Article 9, in total for all the items concerned and sepa-rately for D (II) (2) and (3) under ‘Assets’ and C (1), (2), (6), (7) and (9) under ‘Liabilities’,
the information required in brackets in D (11) in Article 10, in total for all the items concerned, and separately for D (II) (2) and (3);
abridged notes on their accounts without the information required in Article 43 (1) (5), (6), (8), (10) and (11). However, the notes on the accounts must give the information specified in Article 43 (1) (6) in total for all the items concerned.
This paragraph shall be without prejudice to paragraph 1 in so far as it relates to the profit and loss account, the annual report and the opinion of the person responsible for auditing the accounts.
Article 12 shall apply.