Brussels, 05/02/2010 (Agence Europe) - On Friday 5 February the European Commission took a decision recognising the adequacy of the auditor supervision systems in Canada, Japan and Switzerland (see EUROPE 9975). This will enable the exchange of audit working papers between the EU member states' surveillance authorities and their Canadian, Japanese and Swiss counterparts, and the ability of an audit authority from a country outside the EU to meet the audit requirements of EU Directive 2006/43/EC and sign reciprocal agreements for the exchange of relevant documents with the audit supervision authorities of the member states (ensuring such documents remain confidential). In a press release, EU Internal Market and Services Commissioner Charlie McCreevy said: "The exchange of audit working papers is an important first step towards closer co-operation on audit supervision with Japan, Canada and Switzerland. Our ultimate objective is mutual reliance on each other's supervision systems." The United States is not included in this because it has not introduced a system for the exchange of documents with relevant EU authorities. The decision can be found at: http: //ec.europa.eu/internal_market/auditing/relations/index_en.htm (M.B./transl.fl)