63That argument must be rejected, since the nature of the documents at issue does not preclude the possibility that pressures could be brought to bear on the auditor and the Commission departments or that attempts could be made to influence their actions. As the Commission correctly notes, if the applicants’ argument were accepted, the exception relating to audits would lose its purpose, since audits, by their very nature, involve checking factual data. The interest protected by that exception is the interest in allowing audits to be conducted independently and free of pressures, whether these come from the body being audited, from other interested bodies or from the general public.
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