Companies Act 2014 section 1568

Transfer of audit documentation to third-country competent authority

Section 1568 sets out the conditions under which audit working papers and related documents held by a statutory auditor or audit firm may be transferred to a competent authority in a non-EU country, and the safeguards that must be in place before such a transfer can be authorised by the Supervisory Authority.

• Audit working papers, documents, and inspection or investigation reports may only be transferred to a third-country authority if the Supervisory Authority is satisfied that four key conditions are met: the documents relate to an audit of an undertaking connected to the third country, the third-country authority meets adequacy requirements under the Audit Directive, reciprocal working arrangements exist, and the transfer complies with data protection law.
• The reciprocal working arrangements must include safeguards such as requiring the third-country authority to justify its request, ensuring confidentiality obligations equivalent to Irish law apply to the authority's staff, protecting the commercial and intellectual property interests of the audited undertaking, and restricting use of the documents to public oversight, quality assurance, and investigations meeting EU-equivalent standards.
• The Supervisory Authority retains the right to refuse a transfer request if it would affect the sovereignty, security, or public policy of the State, if court proceedings have already been initiated in Ireland against the same auditor or firm for the same actions, or if the Supervisory Authority has already made a final determination on the same matter.
• The Supervisory Authority has the power to require a statutory auditor or audit firm to produce the relevant working papers and documents so that it can assess whether a transfer should proceed or be refused, and the auditor or firm must comply with any such requirement.