Member States shall not prohibit or place unreasonable or unduly restrictive conditions on the exchange of information or assistance between competent authorities for the purposes of this Directive. In particular Member States shall ensure that competent authorities do not refuse a request for assistance on the grounds that:

(a) the request is also considered to involve tax matters;

(b) national law requires obliged entities to maintain secrecy or confidentiality, except in those cases where the relevant information that is sought is protected by legal privilege or where legal professional secrecy applies, as described in Article 34(2);

(c) there is an inquiry, investigation or proceeding underway in the requested Member State, unless the assistance would impede that inquiry, investigation or proceeding;

(d) the nature or status of the requesting counterpart competent authority is different from that of requested competent authority.