1. The law of the merging UCITS home Member States shall entrust either a depositary or an independent auditor, approved in accordance with Directive 2006/43/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 May 2006 on statutory audits of annual accounts and consolidated accounts [OJ L 157, 9.6.2006, p. 87.], to validate the following:

(a) the criteria adopted for valuation of the assets and, where applicable, the liabilities on the date for calculating the exchange ratio, as referred to in Article 47(1);

(b) where applicable, the cash payment per unit; and

(c) the calculation method of the exchange ratio as well as the actual exchange ratio determined at the date for calculating that ratio, as referred to in Article 47(1).

2. The statutory auditors of the merging UCITS or the statutory auditor of the receiving UCITS shall be considered independent auditors for the purposes of paragraph 1.

3. A copy of the reports of the independent auditor, or, where applicable, the depositary shall be made available on request and free of charge to the unit-holders of both the merging UCITS and the receiving UCITS and to their respective competent authorities.