I.-The General Rapporteur shall, at their request, communicate the information or documents that he holds or that he collects to the authorities of the Member States of the European Union exercising competences similar to his own.
The General Rapporteur may initiate an investigation in order to respond to requests for assistance from the authorities mentioned in the first paragraph.
When one of these authorities so requests, the General Rapporteur may authorise agents of that authority to be present during the acts of investigation.
II.-The General Rapporteur may initiate an investigation in order to respond to requests for assistance from authorities of non-EU Member States exercising powers similar to his own, subject to reciprocity and on condition that the authority concerned is subject to professional secrecy with the same guarantees as in France.
It may, subject to the same reservations and conditions, carry out investigative acts that it determines in order to respond to requests for assistance from the authorities mentioned in the first paragraph of this II.
The rapporteur may, by way of exception, authorise officials of authorities of non-EU Member States to attend investigations. Such officials may not directly request information or documents from the statutory auditor.