62In those circumstances, generalised access, on the basis of Regulation No 1049/2001, to the documents exchanged in the context of such a procedure, between the Commission and the notifying parties or third parties would, as the Commission pointed out, jeopardise the balance which the Union legislature wished to ensure in the EC merger regulation between the obligation on undertakings to communicate possibly sensitive commercial information to the Commission in order that it may assess the compatibility of the proposed transaction with the common market, on the one hand, and the guarantee of increased protection, by virtue of the requirement of professional and business secrecy, for the information so provided to the Commission, on the other hand.