1. When receiving and handling data under this Regulation which contains confidential information, including sharing such data with other euro area NCBs, the ECB and the NCBs shall apply the standards for the protection and use of confidential statistical information laid down in Articles 8 and 8c of Regulation (EC) No 2533/98.

2. Subject to paragraph 1, any confidential information contained in statistical data collected by the ECB or an NCB under this Regulation shall not be transmitted to or otherwise shared with any authority or other third party other than the ECB and the euro area NCBs unless the reporting agent concerned has given the ECB or the relevant NCB its express written consent in advance and the ECB or the relevant NCB, where applicable, has signed an appropriate confidentiality agreement with such reporting agent.