Official Journal of the European Communities 131 878/64 OFFICIAL JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 4.4.64 COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 25 February 1964 on the abolition of restrictions on freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services in respect of reinsurance and retrocession (64/225/EEC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY, - Having regard to the Treaty establishing the Euro- pean Economic Community, and in particular Articles 54 (2) and (3) and 63 (2) thereof; : Having' regard to the General Programme for the abolition of restrictions on freedom of establishment,! and in particular Title IV A thereof; Having regard to the General Programme for the abolition of restrictions on freedom to provide ser- vices,? and in particular Title V C thereof; Having regard to the proposal from the Commission; Having regard to the Opinion of the European Par- liament3; Having regard to the Opinion of the Economic and Social Committee?; Whereas the General Programmes provide that all branches of reinsurance must, without distinction, be liberalised before the end of 1963 as regards both right of establishment and provision of services; Whereas reinsurance is effected not only by undertak- ings specialising in reinsurance but also by so-called ‘mixed’ undertakings, which deal both in direct in- surance and in reinsurance and which should therefore be covered by measures taken in implementation of this Directive in respect of that part of their business which is concerned with reinsurance and retrocession; 1 OJ No 2, 15.1.1962, p. 36/62. 2 O] No 2, 15.1.1962, p. 32/62. 3 O] No 33, 4.3.1963, p. 482/63.. ¢ O] No 56, 4.4.1963, p. 882/64. Whereas, for the purposes of applying measures con- cerning right of establishment and freedom to pro- vide services, companies and firms are to be treated in the same way as natural persons who are nationals of Member States, subject only to the conditions laid down in Article 58 and, where necessary, to the con- dition that there should exist a real and continuous " link with the economy of a Member State; whereas therefore 'no company or firm may be required, in or- der to obtain the benefit of such measures, to fulfil any additional condition, and in particular no com- pany or firm may be required to obtain any special authorisation not required of a domestic company or firm wishing to pursue a particular economic activity; whereas, however, such uniformity of treatment should not prevent Member States from requiring that a company having a share capital should operate in their countries under the description by which it is known in the law of the Member State under which it is constituted, and that it should indicate the amount of its subscribed capital on the business papers which it uses in the host Member State; HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE: Article 1 Member States shall abolish, in respect of the natural persons and companies or firms covered by Title T of the General Programmes for the abolition of restric- tions on freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services the restrictions referred to in Title 111 of those General Programmes affecting the right to take up and pursue the activities specified in Article 2 of this Directive. Article 2 The provisions of this Directive shall apply: 1. to activities of self-employed persons in reinsurance and retrocession falling within Group ex 630