The Friendly Societies Act, 1896, is hereby amended by the insertion of the following section after section 8:
"8A. Restrictions on registration.
Notwithstanding section 8 of this Act:
(1) No society shall be registered under this Act for any of the purposes referred to in section 8(1)(a) or section 8(1)(e) of this Act unless the registrar of friendly societies is satisfied that the society is a society to which Article 2.2(b), Article 2.2(c) or Article 3 of Council Directive 73/239/EEC [OJ L228/3 of 16.8.73] refers.
(2) No society shall be registered under this Act for any of the purposes referred to in section 8(1)(b) or section 8(1)(d) of this Act unless the registrar of friendly societies is satisfied that the society is a society to which Article 2.2, Article 2.3 or Article 3 of Council Directive 79/267/EEC [OJ L63/1 of 13.3.79] refers, or is a society in respect of which the Minister for Industry and Commerce has indicated that he will issue an authorisation under the European Co
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