Pursuant to the Rules, the Audit Committee makes recommendations to the Board of Directors on the appointment of auditors and the determination of their remuneration, the approval of the annual financial statements and the interim accounts, discusses with the auditors their audit programme and the results of their audit of the accounts and monitors the adequacy of the Group’s internal controls, accounting policies and financial reporting. The Audit Committee has responsibility for ensuring that the internal and external audit activities are correctly directed and that the audit matters are given due importance at meetings of the Board of Directors. The rules and responsibilities of the Audit Committee have been set out in more detail in the Audit Committee Charter.

The Audit Committee reviews the quarterly, half and full year accounts on the basis of the documents distributed in advance and discussions with the auditors. The Head of accounting and the Chief Financial Officer are invited to meetings of the Audit Committee to answer any question.

The Audit Committee is chaired by Manfred Bischoff and Arnaud Lagardère and also includes Rüdiger Grube and Louis Gallois.

The Audit Committee meets twice a year, or more frequently according to requirements. It met three times during 2005 and had one written consultation, with a 94% attendance rate, to review the 2004 results as well as the first half-year results for 2005 of the Company. As decided by the Board of Directors on 5th December 2003, the role of the Audit Committee was increased with new tasks such as, in particular, the review of the quarterly financial reports.