Artikel 13

1. All information provided and received by the competent authority of a contracting party shall be kept confidential. The principle of confidentiality is essential to the proper implementation and permanence of this Agreement.
2. Information provided to the competent authority of a contracting party may not be used for any purpose other than for the purposes of direct taxation without the prior written consent of the other contracting party.
3. Information provided shall be disclosed only to persons or authorities concerned with the purposes of direct taxation, and used by such persons or authorities only for such purposes or for oversight purposes, including the determination of any appeal. For these purposes, information may be disclosed in public court proceedings or in judicial proceedings.
4. Where a competent authority of a contracting party considers that information which it has received from the competent authority of the other contracting party is likely to be useful to the competent authority of another Member State, it may transmit it to the latter competent authority with the agreement of the competent authority which supplied the information.