Common use of Information Exchange and Confidentiality Clause in Contracts

Information Exchange and Confidentiality. 1. Any information communicated in whatsoever form pursuant to this Section shall be of a confidential or restricted nature, depending on the rules applicable in each Party. It shall be covered by the obligation of official secrecy and shall enjoy the protection extended to similar information under the relevant laws of the Party that received it. 2. Personal data may be exchanged only where the Party which may receive them 4-9 undertakes to protect such data in at least an equivalent way to the one applicable to that particular case in the Party that may supply them. 3. The use, in judicial or administrative proceedings instituted in respect of operations in breach of customs law, of information obtained under this Section, is considered to be for purposes of this Section. Therefore, the Parties may, in their records of evidence, reports and testimonies and in proceedings and charges brought before the courts, use as evidence information obtained and documents consulted in accordance with this Section. The competent authority which supplied that information or gave access to those documents shall be notified of such use. 4. Information obtained shall be used solely for purposes of this Section. Where one of the Parties wishes to use such information for other purposes, it shall obtain the prior written consent of the authority which provided the information. Such use shall then be subject to any restrictions laid down by that authority.