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1. The Commission shall specifically appoint for the purpose of carrying out the inspections referred to in Article 2 certain of its officials or other servants (‘authorised agents’). For each inspection, the Commission shall provide the authorised agents with written terms of reference stating their identity and official capacity. Experts seconded to the Commission by the Member States as national experts may participate in the inspections. With the explicit and prior agreement of the Member State concerned, the Commission may seek the assistance of officials from other Member States as observers. The Commission shall ensure that those officials comply with paragraph 3.

2. During the inspections referred to in Article 2 the authorised agents shall act in a manner compatible with the rules applicable to the officials of the Member State concerned. They shall be bound by professional secrecy, under the conditions laid down in paragraph 3 of this Article. The Commission shall respect the principle of statistical confidentiality as established in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council . An authorised agent may, if necessary, contact debtors, but only in the context of the inspections of traditional own resources, and only through the competent authorities whose own resources collection procedures are the subject of the inspection.

3. Information communicated or obtained under this Regulation, in whatever form, shall be subject to professional secrecy and receive the protection granted to similar information under the national law of the Member State in which it was gathered and under the corresponding provisions applicable to the institutions of the Union. The information referred to in the first subparagraph shall not be communicated to persons other than those persons within the institutions of the Union or within the Member States whose duty is to know that information nor shall it be used for purposes other than those laid down in this Regulation without the prior consent of the Member State in which it was gathered. The first and second subparagraphs shall apply to the officials and other servants of the Union, and seconded national experts.

4. The Commission shall ensure that authorised agents and other persons acting under its authority comply with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 of the European Parliament and of the Council and other Union and national rules concerning the protection of personal data.