Article 1 - For the purposes of this Directive:

(a) assurance undertaking shall mean an undertaking which has received official authorization in accordance with Article 6 of Directive 79/267/EEC;

(b) branch shall mean an agency or branch of an assurance undertaking, having regard to Article 3 of Directive 90/619/EEC;

(c) commitment shall mean a commitment represented by one of the kinds of insurance or operations referred to in Article 1 of Directive 79/267/EEC;

(d) home Member State shall mean the Member State in which the head office of the assurance undertaking covering the commitment is situated;

(e) Member State of the branch shall mean the Member State in which the branch covering the commitment is situated;

(f) Member State of the provision of services shall mean the Member State of the commitment, as defined in Article 2 (e) of Directive 90/619/EEC, if the commitment is covered by an assurance undertaking or a branch situated in another Member State;

(g) control shall mean the relationship between a parent undertaking and a subsidiary, as defined in Article 1 of Directive 83/349/EEC (1), or a similar relationship between any natural or legal person and an undertaking;

(1) Seventh Council Directive 83/349/EEC of 13 June 1983 based on Article 54 (3) (g) of the Treaty on consolidated accounts (OJ No L 193, 18. 7. 1983, p. 1). Directive as last amended by Directive 90/605/EEC (OJ No L 317, 16. 11. 1990, p. 60).

(h) qualifying holding shall mean a direct or indirect holding in an undertaking which represents 10 % or more of the capital or of the voting rights or which makes it possible to exercise a significant influence over the management of the undertaking in which a holding subsists.

For the purposes of this definition, in the context of Articles 7 and 14 and of the other levels of holding referred to in Article 14, the voting rights referred to in Article 7 of Directive 88/627/EEC (1) shall be taken into consideration;

(i) parent undertaking shall mean a parent undertaking as defined in Articles 1 and 2 of Directive 83/349/EEC;

(j) subsidiary shall mean a subsidiary undertaking as defined in Articles 1 and 2 of Directive 83/349/EEC; any subsidiary of a subsidiary undertaking shall also be regarded as a subsidiary of the undertaking which is those undertakings' ultimate parent undertaking;

(k) regulated market shall mean a financial market regarded by an undertaking's home Member State as a regulated market pending the adoption of a definition in a Directive on investment services and characterized by:

- regular operation, and

- the fact that regulations issued or approved by the appropriate authorities define the conditions for the operation of the market, the conditions for access to the market and, where Council Directive 79/279/EEC of 5 March 1979 coordinating the conditions for the admission of securities to official stock-exchange listing (2) applies, the conditions for admission to listing imposed in that Directive or, where that Directive does not apply, the conditions to be satisfied by a financial instrument in order to be effectively dealt in on the market.

For the purposes of this Directive, a regulated market may be situated in a Member State or in a third country. In the latter event, the market must be recognized by the undertaking's home Member State and meet comparable requirements. Any financial instruments dealt in must be of a quality comparable to that of the instruments dealt in on the regulated market or markets of the Member State in question;