(1) The parties referred to in Section 63(1) nos 1 and 2 and Section 63(2) may access the court files and may obtain executed copies, excerpts and transcripts at their own expense from the court clerk. Section 299(3) of the German Code of Civil Procedure shall apply mutatis mutandis.
(2) Access to preparatory files, supplementary files, expert opinions and other information shall be permissible only with the consent of the bodies to which the files belong or which have obtained the respective statement. The competition authority shall refuse to grant access to its records to the extent that this is necessary for important reasons, in particular to protect trade or business secrets. If access is refused or impermissible, the decision may be based on such records only to the extent that their content formed part of the pleadings. The court may, after hearing the party affected by such disclosure, order by decree the disclosure of facts or evidence the confidentiality of which is demanded for important reasons, in particular to protect trade or business secrets, to the extent that such facts or evidence are relevant for the decision, there is no other way to ascertain the facts and, after consideration of all circumstances of the particular case, the significance of the matter in protecting competition outweighs the interests of the party affected in maintaining confidentiality. The decree shall contain a statement of reasons. In proceedings pursuant to sentence 4, the party affected shall not be required to be represented by a lawyer.
(3) The court may grant the parties referred to in Section 63(1) no 3 access to the files to the same extent, after having heard those to whom the files belong.