This Agreement shall not impose upon a requested Party any obligation to provide items subject to legal privilege, or any trade, business, industrial, commercial or professional secret or trade process, provided that information described in paragraph 4 of Article 4 shall not by reason of that fact alone be treated as such a secret or trade process. A request for information shall not be refused on the ground that the tax claim giving rise to the request is disputed. The requested Party shall not be required to obtain and provide information which, if the requested information was within the jurisdiction of the requesting Party, the competent authority of the requesting Party would not be able to obtain under its laws or in the normal course of administrative practice. The requested Party may decline a request for information if the information is requested by the requesting Party to administer or enforce a provision of the tax law of the requesting Party, or any requirement connected therewith, which discriminates against a national or citizen of the requested Party as compared with a national or citizen of the requesting Party in the same circumstances. All information provided and received by the competent authorities of the Parties shall be kept confidential. Such information shall be disclosed only to persons or authorities (including courts and administrative bodies) concerned with the purposes specified in Article 1, and used by such persons or authorities only for such purposes, including the determination of any appeal. For these purposes, information may be disclosed in public court proceedings or in judicial decisions. Such information may not be used for any purpose other than for the purposes stated in Article 1 without the express written consent of the competent authority of the requested Party.