Article 54 — Confidentiality

1. Competent national authorities, notified bodies, ECHA and the Commission shall respect the confidentiality, in accordance with applicable Union and national law, of the following information and data obtained in carrying out their tasks in accordance with this Regulation: (a) personal data; and (b) commercially confidential information and trade secrets of a natural or legal person, including intellectual property rights, unless disclosure is in the public interest. 2. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, information exchanged on a confidential basis between the competent national authorities and between competent national authorities and the Commission shall not be disclosed without prior consultation with the originating competent national authority. 3. Paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not affect the rights and obligations of the Commission, Member States and notified bodies with regard to the exchange of information and the dissemination of warnings, or the obligations of the persons concerned to provide information pursuant to criminal law. 4. Member States and the Commission may exchange confidential information with regulatory authorities of third countries with which they have concluded bilateral or multilateral confidentiality arrangements where those arrangements ensure that any exchange of information is in accordance with applicable Union and national law.