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1. Providers of audience measurement systems shall ensure that their audience measurement systems and the methodology used by their audience measurement systems comply with the principles of transparency, impartiality, inclusiveness, proportionality, non-discrimination, comparability and verifiability.

2. Without prejudice to the protection of undertakings’ trade secrets as defined in Article 2, point (1), of Directive (EU) 2016/943, providers of proprietary audience measurement systems shall provide, without undue delay and free of charge, to media service providers, to advertisers and to third parties authorised by media service providers and advertisers accurate, detailed, comprehensive, intelligible and up-to-date information on the methodology used by their audience measurement systems. Providers of proprietary audience measurement systems shall ensure that the methodology used by their audience measurement systems and the way in which it is applied is independently audited once a year. At the request of a media service provider, a provider of a proprietary audience measurement system shall provide it with information on audience measurement results, including non-aggregated data, which relate to the media content and media services of that media service provider. This paragraph shall not affect the Union’s data protection and privacy rules.

3. National regulatory authorities or bodies shall encourage providers of audience measurement systems to draw up, together with media service providers, providers of online platforms, their representative organisations and any other interested parties, codes of conduct or shall encourage providers of audience measurement systems to comply with codes of conduct jointly agreed and widely accepted by media service providers, their representative organisations and any other interested parties. Codes of conduct as referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph shall be intended to promote the regular, independent and transparent monitoring of the effective achievement of their objectives and compliance with the principles referred to in paragraph 1, including through independent and transparent audits.

4. The Commission, assisted by the Board, may issue guidelines on the practical application of paragraphs 1, 2 and 3, taking into account, where appropriate, codes of conduct as referred to in paragraph 3.

5. The Board shall foster the exchange of best practices related to the deployment of audience measurement systems through a regular dialogue between representatives of the national regulatory authorities or bodies, representatives of providers of audience measurement systems, representatives of media service providers, representatives of providers of online platforms and other interested parties.