1.Member States may disapply or modify the requirements in Article 45(1) and (3) on the basis of reciprocity only if the third-country auditors or audit entities are subject to systems of public oversight, quality assurance and investigations and penalties in the third country that meet requirements equivalent to those of Articles 29, 30 and 32.
2.In order to ensure uniform conditions for the application of paragraph 1,1 of this Article, the Commission shall be empowered to decide upon the equivalence referred to therein shall be assessed by themeans Commissionof inimplementing cooperationacts. withThose Memberimplementing States andacts shall be decided upon by the Commissionadopted in accordance with the regulatoryexamination procedure referred to in Article 48(2). Once the Commission has recognised the equivalence referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article, Member States may decide to rely on such equivalence partially or entirely and thus to disapply or modify the requirements in Article 45(1) and (3) partially or entirely. Member States may assess the equivalence referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article or rely on the assessments carried out by other Member States as long as the Commission has not taken any such a decision. If the Commission decides that the requirement of equivalence referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article is not complied with, it may allow the third-country auditors and third-country audit entities concerned to continue their audit activities in accordance with the requirements of the relevant Member State during an appropriate transitional period.
In this context, theThe Commission mayshall be empowered to adopt measuresdelegated aimed at establishing general equivalence criteriaacts in accordance with Article 48a for the purpose of establishing the general equivalence criteria, based on the requirements laid down in Articles 29, 30 and 3232, which are applicableto be used in assessing whether the public oversight, quality assurance, investigation and sanctions systems of a third country are equivalent to allthose thirdof countriesthe andUnion. whichSuch general criteria shall be used by Member States when assessing equivalence at national level.level The criteria may not exceedin the requirementsabsence laidof downa Commission decision in Articles 29, 30 and 32. Those measures, designed to amend non essential elementsrespect of this Directive by supplementing it, shall be adopted in accordance with the regulatorythird procedurecountry with scrutiny referred to in Article 48(2a).concerned.
3.Member States shall communicate to the Commission:
(a)their assessments of the equivalence referred to in paragraph 2; and
(b)the main elements of their cooperative arrangements with third-country systems of public oversight, quality assurance and investigations and penalties, on the basis of paragraph 1.