35Furthermore, as regards the exception laid down in the third indent of Article 4(2) of Regulation No 1049/2001 concerning the protection of investigation activities, it follows from the case-law that the protection of OLAF’s investigations extends to their follow-up, to the extent that that follow-up takes place within a reasonable period (see, to that effect, judgment of 6 July 2006 in Franchet and Byk v Commission, T‑391/03 and T‑70/04, EU:T:2006:190, paragraphs 108 to 113). According to that case-law, if the reasonable period for deciding what action to take in the light of information sent by OLAF to the competent authorities, has not yet expired, to grant access to OLAF’s investigation file, even partially, could compromise the effective use of those elements by the national authorities, given that the persons suspected of irregularities could act in such a way as to prevent the proper conduct of the various procedures or investigations which those authorities might decide to initiate. Likewise, it must be noted that OLAF’s investigations, and any further procedures, depend on the ability of informers and witnesses to provide information. The prospect of seeing their information, explanations or assumptions disclosed could lead them to censor the information they provide or to hold back sensitive information, which could undermine the effectiveness of EU anti-fraud policy.
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