Recital 1

(1)Under Article 47(1) of Directive 2006/43/EC, the competent authorities of Member States may allow the transfer of audit working papers or other documents held by statutory auditors or audit firms approved by them and of inspection or investigation reports relating to the audits in question to the competent authorities of a third country only if those authorities meet requirements that have been declared adequate by the Commission and there are reciprocal working arrangements between them and the competent authorities of the Member States concerned. It therefore needs to be determined whether the competent authorities of certain third countries meet requirements which are adequate for the purpose of having audit working papers or other documents held by statutory auditors or audit firms and inspection or investigation reports transferred to them.