Confidentiality obligations under tax treaty restrict disclosure to domestic tax purposes and require consent for external disclosure. Information exchanged under the tax agreement must be treated as confidential, used only for assessment, collection, enforcement, prosecution, or appeal determination in relation to covered taxes, and disclosed only to domestic persons or authorities for those purposes; public court proceedings or judicial decisions may disclose such information, but any disclosure to other persons, entities, authorities, or jurisdictions requires the requested Party's competent authority's express written consent. Information received with a request for assistance is equally protected.