Chapter I: Organisation and supervision of the profession.

I.-The Haut Conseil du Commissariat aux Comptes is an independent public authority.

The Haut Conseil carries out the following missions:

1° It registers the statutory auditors and third-country auditors mentioned in I of Article L. 822-1-5 and the keeping of the lists provided for in Article L. 822-1 ;

2° It adopts, under the conditions provided for in Article L. 821-14, the standards relating to the ethics of statutory auditors, internal quality control and professional practice;

3° It shall define the general guidelines and the various areas to which the obligation of continuing education may relate and shall ensure compliance with the obligations of statutory auditors in this area;

4° It shall take the measures referred to in III and V of Article L. 823-3-1 and in III of Article L. 823-18 ;

5° It defines the framework and guidelines for the controls provided for in Article L. 821-9 ; it shall supervise their implementation and may issue recommendations as part of their follow-up;

6° It shall conduct investigations into breaches of the provisions of this Title and of Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 of 16 April 2014;

7° It shall impose penalties under the conditions laid down in Chapter IV of this Title;

8° It shall rule on disputes relating to the remuneration of statutory auditors, in accordance with Article L. 823-18-1 ;

9° It shall cooperate with the authorities of other States exercising similar powers, the European Union authorities responsible for the supervision of public interest entities, central banks, the European System of Central Banks, the European Central Bank and the European Systemic Risk Board;

10° It shall monitor developments in the market for the performance of statutory audits of the accounts of public interest entities, under the conditions defined in Article 27 of Regulation (EU) No 537/2014 of 16 April 2014.

Unless otherwise provided, the tasks entrusted to the High Council shall be performed by the College.

II.-The High Council may delegate to the Compagnie nationale des commissaires aux comptes the performance of some or all of the following missions:

1° Registration and maintenance of the list referred to in I of Article L. 822-1;

2° Monitoring compliance with continuing education obligations for statutory auditors;

3° Audits carried out under the conditions provided for in Section 2 of this chapter.

The terms of delegation are set out in an agreement approved by order of the Minister of Justice.