S.L. 403.14 чл. 2Interpretation. Cap. 403. Cap. 330. Cap. 104.

(1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires -"the Act" means the Insurance Business Act;

"branch" means an agency or branch of an insurance or reinsurance undertaking which is located in the territory of a Member State or EEA State, other than the home Member State, and includes any permanent presence of an undertaking in the territory of a Member State or EEA State, even if that presence does not take the form of a branch but consists merely of an office managed by the own staff of the undertaking or by a person who is independent but has permanent authority to act for the undertaking as an agency would; "Commission" means the Commission of the European Union; "competent authority" means the Malta Financial Services Authority established by the Malta Financial Services Authority Act;

"EEA State" means a State which is a contracting party to the agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May, 1992 as amended by the Protocol signed at Brussels on the 17th March, 1993 and as amended from time to time; "European insurance undertaking" means an undertaking having its head office in a Member State or an EEA State, other than Malta, pursuing the activity of direct insurance within the meaning of Article 2 of the Solvency II Directive which has received authorisation in accordance with Article 14 of the Solvency II Directive;

"European reinsurance undertaking" means an undertaking having its head office in a Member State or an EEA State, other than Malta, pursuing business restricted to reinsurance within the

*see regulation 1(3) of these Regulations, as originally promulgated. meaning of Article 2 of the Solvency II Directive which has received authorisation in accordance with Article 14 of the Solvency II Directive; "European regulatory authority" means the supervisory authority or supervisory authorities as defined in Article 13(10) of the Solvency II Directive, designated by a Member State or EEA State, other than Malta, empowered by law or regulation to supervise European insurance undertakings or European reinsurance undertakings;

"European right" means the entitlement of an insurance or reinsurance undertaking to establish a branch, or provide services, in a Member State or an EEA State other than that in which it has its head office -

(a) in accordance with the Treaty as applied in a Member State or an EEA State;

(b) subject to the requirements of the Solvency II Directive and subject to any regulations made under the Act, or Insurance Rules issued by the competent authority pursuant to the Act, implementing such requirements;

"home Member State" means any of the following:

(a) for general business of insurance, the Member State or EEA State in which the head office of the insurance undertaking covering the risk is situated; or

(b) for long term business, the Member State or EEA State in which the head office of the insurance undertaking covering the commitment is situated; or

(c) for reinsurance, the Member State or EEA State in which the head office of the reinsurance undertaking is situated. "host Member State" means the Member State or EEA State, other than Malta, in which a Maltese insurance undertaking or a Maltese reinsurance undertaking exercises or proposes to exercise a European right; for long term and general business of insurance, the Member State of the provision of services means, respectively, the Member State or EEA State of the commitment or the Member State or EEA State in which the risk is situated, where that commitment or risk is covered by a Maltese insurance undertaking or a branch of the undertaking situated in another Member State or EEA State;

"Insurance Rules" has the same meaning as is assigned to it by article 2 of the Act;

"Maltese insurance undertaking" means an undertaking authorised in terms of the Act, whose head office is in Malta and which is entitled to carry on business of insurance in a Member State or EEA State, in exercise of a European right but excludes an undertaking whose business is restricted to reinsurance;

"Maltese reinsurance undertaking" means an undertaking authorised in terms of the Act to carry on business restricted to reinsurance, whose head office is in Malta and which is entitled to carry on business in a Member State or EEA State in exercise of a European right; "Maltese rules" means rules -

(a) made pursuant to the Solvency II Directive; and

(b) which are the responsibility of the competent authority (as to implementation, enforcement and compliance) and subject to the provisions of the Act and any regulations and Insurance Rules made thereunder;

"Member State" means a Member State of the European Union; "Ordinance" means the Motor Vehicle Insurance (Third-Party Risks) Ordinance, or any enactment replacing that law, and any regulations made thereunder; "risk situated in a Member State or EEA State" means:

(a) the Member State or EEA State in which the property is situated, where the insurance relates either to buildings or to buildings and their contents, in so far as the contents are covered by the same insurance policy;

(b) the Member State or EEA State of registration where the insurance relates to vehicles of any type;

(c) the Member State or EEA State where the policyholder took out the policy in the case of policies of a duration of four months or less, covering travel or holiday risks, whatever the class concerned; or

(d) in all cases not explicitly covered by paragraphs (a), (b), and (c), the Member State or EEA State in which either of the following is situated:

(i) the habitual residence of the policyholder; or

(ii) if the policyholder is a legal person, that policyholder’s establishment to which the contract relates;

"Solvency II Directive" means Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 November 2009 on the taking-up and pursuit of the business of Insurance and Reinsurance (Solvency II) (recast) as amended from time to time and includes any delegated acts and any technical standards that have been or may be issued thereunder; "Treaty" means Treaty of Rome signed in 1957, establishing the European Economic Community and as subsequently amended; "Tribunal" means the Financial Services Tribunal referred to in article 57 of the Act.

(2) Words and expressions used in these regulations which are also used in the Act but which are not defined herein, shall have the same meaning assigned to them as in the Act.

(3) These regulations shall apply to a European reinsurance undertaking or a Maltese reinsurance undertaking in the following manner:

(a) in the case of a European reinsurance undertaking, the Preliminary and Part III and VI thereof shall apply; and

(b) in the case of a Maltese reinsurance undertaking, the Preliminary and Part IV thereof shall apply.