73. Third country branches.

The Central Bank Act 1971 is amended -

(a) in section 7 -

(i) in subsection (1) by inserting "or authorisation under section 9A" after "licence", and

(ii) in subsection (6)(b) by inserting "or authorisation under section 9A" after "licence",

and

(b) by inserting the following sections after section 9:

"9A. Authorisation of third country branches.

(1) In this section and sections 9B and 9C -

'branch' means a branch of a relevant credit institution;

'EEA Agreement' has the same meaning as it has in the European Communities (Amendment) Act 1993;

'EEA state' means -

(a) a member state of the European Communities, or

(b) a state (other than a member state of the European Communities) that is a contracting party to the EEA Agreement;

'relevant credit institution' means a credit institution whose head office is located in a state or territory other than an EEA state and which holds an authorisation to carry on banking business in that state or territory from the authority that exercises in th

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