1. The duly approved annual accounts of insurance undertakings, together with the annual reports and the reports by the persons responsible for auditing the accounts, shall be published as laid down by the laws of each Member State in accordance with Article 3 of Directive 68/151/EEC [OJ No L 65, 14. 3. 1968, p. 8.].

The laws of a Member State may, however, provide that annual reports need not be published as provided in the first subparagraph. In that event, they shall be made available to the public at the undertakings' head offices in the Member State concerned. It must be possible to obtain a copy of all or part of any such report upon request. The price of such a copy shall not exceed its administrative cost.

2. Paragraph 1 shall also apply to the duly approved consolidated accounts, the consolidated annual report and the reports by the persons responsible for auditing the accounts.

3. Where an insurance undertaking which has drawn up annual accounts or consolidated accounts is not established as one of the types of company listed in Article 1(1) of Directive 78/660/EEC and is not required by its national law to publish the documents referred to in paragraph 1 and 2 of this Article as prescribed in Article 3 of Directive 68/151/EEC, it shall at least make them available to the public at its head office. It must be possible to obtain copies of such documents on request. The price of such copies shall not exceed their administrative cost.

4. Member States shall provide for appropriate sanctions for failure to comply with the publication rules laid down in this Article.