1. A. Member State may consider to be approved in accordance with this Directive those firms of auditors which have been approved by individual acts of that Member State's competent authorities before the application of the provisions referred to in Article 30(2).
2. The conditions imposed in Article 2(1)(b)(ii) and (iii) must be complied with no later than the end of a period which may not be fixed at more than five years from the date of application of the provisions referred to in Article 30(2).
3. Those natural persons who, until the application of the provisions referred to in Article 30(2), carried out statutory audits of the documents referred to in Article 1(1) in the name of a firm of auditors may, after that date, be authorized to continue to do so even if they do not fulfil all the conditions imposed by this Directive.