(1) The Principal Act is amended by inserting the following after section 80:

"80A.

(1) In this section -

'acquiring company' means a limited company which is incorporated in the State, in another Member State or in an EEA State;

'assurance business' has the meaning assigned to it by section 3 of the Insurance Act 1936;

'assurance company' means -

(a) an assurance company within the meaning of section 3 of the Insurance Act 1936, or

(b) a person that holds an authorisation within the meaning of the European Communities (Life Assurance) Framework Regulations 1994 (S.I. No. 360 of 1994);

'demutualisation' means an arrangement between an assurance company, being an assurance company which carries on a mutual life business, and its members under which -

(a) the assurance business or part of the business carried on by the assurance company is transferred to an acquiring company, and

(b) shares or the right to shares in the issuing company are issued or, as the case may be, granted to the members;

'EEA Agreement' means the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2 May 1992, as adjusted by the Protocol signed at Brussels on 17 March 1993;

'EEA State' means a state which is a contracting party to the EEA Agreement;