Article 32, Treatment of confidential information.
1. Information acquired in the course of implementing this Regulation shall be used only for the purposes of this Regulation and shall be protected by the relevant Union and national law.
2. Information acquired pursuant to Articles 15, 20 and 25 and Article 26(3) shall be subject to professional secrecy and shall enjoy the protection afforded by the rules applicable to the Union institutions and the relevant national law, including the triggering of the provisions applicable to the violation of those rules.
3. The Commission and the national authorities, their officials, servants and other persons working under the supervision of those authorities shall ensure the confidentiality of information and data obtained in carrying out their tasks and activities in such a manner as to protect in particular IP rights and sensitive business information or trade secrets. This obligation shall apply to all representatives of Member States, observers, experts and other participants attending meetings of the European Semiconductor Board pursuant to Article 28 and the members of the Semiconductor Committee pursuant to Article 38(1).
4. The Commission shall provide for standardised and secure means for the collection, processing and storage of the information acquired pursuant to this Regulation.
5. The Commission and Member States may exchange, where necessary, information acquired pursuant to Articles 20 and 25 solely in an aggregated form preventing disclosure of any conclusions on the specific situation of a company in a Member State with competent authorities of third countries with which they have agreed on bilateral or multilateral confidentiality arrangements to provide an adequate level of confidentiality. Before the Commission or Member States engage in any exchange of information, they shall notify the European Semiconductor Board of the information to be shared and the relevant confidentiality arrangement.
When exchanging information with the competent authorities of third countries, the Commission shall designate and use a single point of contact in the Union to facilitate the transfer of such information or data in a confidential manner pursuant to relevant Commission procedures.
6. The Commission may adopt implementing acts, as necessary on the basis of the experience acquired in information gathering, to specify the practical arrangements for the treatment of confidential information in the context of exchange of information pursuant to this Regulation. Those implementing acts shall be adopted in accordance with the examination procedure referred to in Article 38(2).