The criteria which shall be taken into account in order to assess whether the prudential regime in a third country for the supervision of groups is equivalent to that laid down in Title III of Directive 2009/138/EC shall be the following:

(a) whether the supervisory authorities of the third country have the necessary means, the relevant expertise, capacities including financial and human resources, and mandate to effectively protect policy holders and beneficiaries, regardless of their nationality or place of residence;

(b) whether the supervisory authorities of the third country are empowered by law or regulation to:

(i) determine which undertakings fall under the scope of supervision at group level,

(ii) supervise insurance and reinsurance undertakings which are part of a group,

(iii) impose sanctions or take enforcement action where necessary;

(c) whether the supervisory authorities of the third country are able to effectively assess the risk profile and solvency and financial position of insurance and reinsurance undertakings which are part of a group as well as that group's business strategy;

(d) whether the scope of supervision at group level at least includes all undertakings over which a participating undertaking, as defined in Article 212(1)(a) of Directive 2009/138/EC, exercises dominant or significant influence unless where this would be inappropriate to the objectives of group supervision;