Recital 6

(6)Pursuant to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 ⁴ , in the United States of America, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board has competence in the public oversight, external quality assurance, investigation and sanctions of auditors and audit firms. The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board implements adequate safeguards prohibiting and sanctioning disclosure by its current and former employees of confidential information to any third person or authority. Under the laws and regulations of the United States, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board may transfer to the competent authorities of the Member States documents equivalent to those referred to in Article 47(1) of Directive 2006/43/EC. On that basis, the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board continues to meet requirements which should be declared adequate for the purposes of Article 47(1), point (c), of Directive 2006/43/EC.