Article L. 462-9 of the French Commercial Code provides the Autorité with the ability to exchange information with other competition authorities. This ability is subject to prior information of the Minister of Economy, reciprocity and to the fact that the other competition authorities are subject to the same professional secrecy obligations. The same provision specifies that “the professional secrecy obligation shall not impede communication by the competition authorities of the information or documents they hold, or which they gather at their request, to the European Commission and the authorities of other States which exercise similar powers and are bound by the same professional secrecy obligations”.