Article 14 of Directive 73/239/EEC shall be replaced by the following:
'Article 14
The Member State of the branch shall provide that where an insurance undertaking authorized in another Member State carries on business through a branch the competent authorities of the home Member State may, after having informed the competent authorities of the Member State of the branch, carry out themselves or through the intermediary of persons they appoint for that purpose on-the-spot verification of the information necessary to ensure the financial supervision of the undertaking. The authorities of the Member State of the branch may participate in that verification'.