and shall be prepared to explain to the other Party the specific results of its application of those principles to the issue that is the subject of consultation.Article VIII Confidentiality of information 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, neither Party is required to provide information to the other Party if disclosure of that information to the requesting Party (a) is prohibited by the law of the Party possessing the information, or (b) would be incompatible with important interests of the Party possessing the information.2. Each Party agrees to maintain, to the fullest extent possible, the confidentiality of any information provided to it in confidence by the other Party under this Agreement and to oppose, to the fullest extent possible, any application for disclosure of such information by a third party that is not authorized by the Party that supplied the information.Article IX Existing law Nothing in this Agreement shall be interpreted in a manner inconsistent with the existing laws, or as requiring any change in the laws, of the United States of America or the European Communities or of their respective States or Member States.Article X Communications under this Agreement Communications under this Agreement, including notifications under Articles II and V, may be carried out by direct oral, telephonic, written or facsimile communication from one Party's competition authority to the other Party's authority. Notifications under Articles II, V and XI, and requests under Article VII, shall be confirmed promptly in writing through diplomatic channels.Article XI Entry into force, termination and review 1. This Agreement shall enter into force upon signature.2. This Agreement shall remain in force until 60 days after the date on which either Party notifies the other Party in writing that it wishes to terminate the Agreement.3. The Parties shall review the operation of this Agreement not more than 24 months from the date of its entry into force, with a view to assessing their cooperative activities, identifying additional areas in which they could usefully cooperate and identifying any other ways in which the Agreement could be improved.The Parties agree that this review will include, among other things, an analysis of actual or potential cases to determine whether their interests could be better served through closer cooperation.IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, being duly authorized, have signed this Agreement.DONE at Washington, in duplicate, this twenty-third day of September, 1991, in the English language.For the Commission of theEuropean CommunitiesFor the Government of theUnited States of AmericaExchange of interpretative letters with the Government of the United States of America Dear [name],As you are aware, on 9 August 1994, the Court of Justice of the European Communities held that the European Commission was not competent to conclude the « Agreement between the Commission of the European Communities and the Government of the United States of America regarding the application of their competition rules ».In order to remedy this situation, the Council has decided on [date] to conclude the Agreement itself. However, as the Agreement will now be concluded by the Council on behalf of the European Community and by the Commission on behalf of the European Coal and Steel Community only, certain corrections of errors in the text of the Agreement are necessary. These are set out in detail in the Annex to this letter, which forms an integral part of this letter.As these corrections do not affect the substance of the Agreement, we consider that they can be made through an exchange of letters. We should therefore be grateful if you would confirm your acceptance of the corrections contained in this letter.Moreover, in order to ensure a clear understanding of the European Communities' interpretation of the Agreement, we set out below two interpretative statements:1. In the light of Article IX of the Agreement, Article VIII (1) should be understood to mean that the information covered by the provisions of Article 20 of Council Regulation 17/62 may not under any circumstances be communicated by the Commission to the US antitrust authorities, save with the express agreement of the source concerned.Similarly, the information referred to in Articles II (6) and III of the Agreement may not include information covered by Article 20 of Regulation 17/62 nor by similar provisions of regulations of equivalent application save with the express agreement of the source concerned.2. In the light of Article VIII (2) of the Agreement, all non-public information provided by either of the Parties in accordance with the Agreement will be considered as confidential by the receiving Party which should oppose any request for disclosure to a third party unless such disclosure is:(a) authorized by the undertaking concerned, or(b) required under the law of the receiving Party.This is understood to mean that- each Party assures the confidentiality of all information furnished by the other Party in accordance with the applicable rules, including those rules intended to assure the confidentiality of information gathered during a Party's own enforcement activities,- each Party shall use all the legal means at its disposal to oppose the disclosure of this information. The European Communities recall the principles which govern the relationship between the Commission and the Member States in the application of the competition rules as enshrined, for example, in Council Regulation 17/62. The Commission after notice to