(1) A third-country auditor or audit entity may apply to the Supervisory Authority for an exemption from all or any of the provisions of Regulations 135 and 136 on the basis that the third-country auditor or audit entity is subject to systems of public oversight, quality assurance and investigations and penalties in the third country concerned that meet requirements equivalent to those of Regulation 32 and Part 8.
(2) On the making of that application, if -
(a) the Commission has, in accordance with Article 46(2) of the Audit Directive, assessed the systems referred to in paragraph (1) as meeting requirements equivalent to those in the corresponding provisions of the Audit Directive, and
(b) the Supervisory Authority is satisfied that the law of the third country concerned affords reciprocal rights to a statutory auditor or audit firm with regard to being granted corresponding exemptions under that law,
the Supervisory Authority may rely on the equivalence decided by the Commissio