1. A third party as referred to in Article 27(2) shall be authorised by the competent authority to assess the compliance of securitisations with the STS criteria provided for in Articles 19 to 22, Articles 23 to 26, or Articles 26a to 26e. The competent authority shall grant the authorisation if the following conditions are met:

(a) the third party only charges non-discriminatory and cost-based fees to the originators, sponsors or SSPEs involved in the securitisations which the third party assesses without differentiating fees depending on, or correlated to, the results of its assessment;

(b) the third party is neither a regulated entity as defined in point (4) of Article 2 of Directive 2002/87/EC nor a credit rating agency as defined in point (b) of Article 3(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1060/2009, and the performance of the third party’s other activities does not compromise the independence or integrity of its assessment;

(c) the third party shall not provide any form of advisory, audit or equivalent service to the originator, sponsor or SSPE involved in the securitisations which the third party assesses;