For the purposes of this Directive:
insurance undertaking means an undertaking which has received official authorisation in accordance with Article 6 of Directive 73/239/EEC or Article 6 of Directive 79/267/EEC;
non-member-country insurance undertaking means an undertaking which would require authorisation in accordance with Article 6 of Directive 73/239/EEC or Article 6 of Directive 79/267/EEC if it had its registered office in the Community;
reinsurance undertaking means an undertaking, other than an insurance undertaking or a non-member-country insurance undertaking, the main business of which consists in accepting risks ceded by an insurance undertaking, a non-member-country insurance undertaking or other reinsurance undertakings;
parent undertaking means a parent undertaking within the meaning of Article 1 of Directive 83/349/EEC 8 and any undertaking which, in the opinion of the competent authorities, effectively exercises a dominant influence over another undertaking;
subsidiary undertaking means a subsidiary undertaking within the meaning of Article 1 of Directive 83/349/EEC and any undertaking over which, in the opinion of the competent authorities, a parent undertaking effectively exercises a dominant influence. All subsidiaries of subsidiary undertakings shall also be considered subsidiaries of the parent undertaking which is at the head of those undertakings;
participation means participation within the meaning of Article 17, first sentence, of Directive 78/660/EEC 9 or the holding, directly or indirectly, of 20 % or more of the voting rights or capital of an undertaking;
participating undertaking shall mean an undertaking which is either a parent undertaking or other undertaking which holds a participation, or an undertaking linked with another undertaking by a relationship within the meaning of Article 12(1) of Directive 83/349/EEC;
related undertaking shall mean either a subsidiary or other undertaking in which a participation is held, or an undertaking linked with another undertaking by a relationship within the meaning of Article 12(1) of Directive 83/349/EEC;
insurance holding company shall mean a parent undertaking, the main business of which is to acquire and hold participations in subsidiary undertakings, where those subsidiary undertakings are exclusively or mainly insurance undertakings, reinsurance undertakings, or non-member-country insurance undertakings, at least one of such subsidiary undertakings being an insurance undertaking, and which is not a mixed financial holding company within the meaning of Directive 2002/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 on the supplementary supervision of credit institutions, insurance undertakings and investment firms in a financial conglomerate 10;
mixed-activity insurance holding company shall mean a parent undertaking, other than an insurance undertaking, a non-member country insurance undertaking, a reinsurance undertaking, an insurance holding company or a mixed financial holding company within the meaning of Directive 2002/87/EC, which includes at least one insurance undertaking among its subsidiary undertakings;
competent authorities means the national authorities which are empowered by law or regulation to supervise insurance undertakings.