1526. (1) The Supervisory Authority shall adopt the auditing standards to be applied and statutory auditors and audit firms shall carry out statutory audits in accordance with those standards.

(2) On and from the adoption of international auditing standards, statutory auditors and audit firms shall carry out statutory audits in accordance with those standards.

(3) The reference in subsection (2) to the adoption of international auditing standards is a reference to the adoption by the Commission, in accordance with the procedure referred to in Article 26 of the Audit Directive, of international auditing standards.

(4) The Supervisory Authority may prescribe by regulations audit procedures or requirements, in addition to the international auditing standards adopted by the Commission under Article 26 of the Directive, only—

(a) if those audit procedures or requirements are necessary in order to give effect to legal requirements in the State relating to the scope of statutory audits, or

(b) to the extent necessary to add to the credibility and quality of financial statements.

(5) The Supervisory Authority shall communicate the audit procedures or requirements referred to in subsection (4) to the Commission at least 3 months before their entry into force or, in the case of requirements already existing at the time of adoption of an international auditing standard, at the latest within 3 months of the adoption of the relevant international auditing standard.

(6) In the case of the statutory audit of small companies, the Supervisory Authority may provide that the application of the auditing standards referred to in subsection (1) is to be proportionate to the scale and complexity of the activities of such companies and may take the measures necessary in order to ensure the proportionate application of the auditing standards to the statutory audits of small companies.

(7) In this section, "standards" include standards on professional ethics and internal quality control in addition to standards on auditing.]