1.

‘statutory audit’ means an audit of annual accounts or consolidated accounts insofar as required by Community law;

2.

‘statutory auditor’ means a natural person who is approved in accordance with this Directive by the competent authorities of a Member State to carry out statutory audits;

3.

‘audit firm’ means a legal person or any other entity, regardless of its legal form, that is approved in accordance with this Directive by the competent authorities of a Member State to carry out statutory audits;

4.

‘third-country audit entity’ means an entity, regardless of its legal form, which carries out audits of the annual or consolidated accounts of a company incorporated in a third country;

5.

‘third-country auditor’ means a natural person who carries out audits of the annual or consolidated accounts of a company incorporated in a third country;

6.

‘group auditor’ means the statutory auditor(s) or audit firm(s) carrying out the statutory audit of consolidated accounts;

7.

‘network’ means the larger structure:

8.

‘affiliate of an audit firm’ means any undertaking, regardless of its legal form, which is connected to an audit firm by means of common ownership, control or management;

9.

‘audit report’ means the report referred to in Article 51a of Directive 78/660/EEC and Article 37 of Directive 83/349/EEC issued by the statutory auditor or audit firm;

10.

‘competent authorities’ means the authorities or bodies designated by law that are in charge of the regulation and/or oversight of statutory auditors and audit firms or of specific aspects thereof; the reference to ‘competent authority’ in a specific article means a reference to the authority or body(ies) responsible for the functions referred to in that Article;

11.

‘international auditing standards’ means International Standards on Auditing (ISA) and related Statements and Standards, insofar as relevant to the statutory audit;

12.

‘international accounting standards’ means International Accounting Standards (IAS), International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and related Interpretations (SIC-IFRIC interpretations), subsequent amendments to those standards and related interpretations, and future standards and related interpretations issued or adopted by the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB);

13.

‘public-interest entities’ means entities governed by the law of a Member State whose transferable securities are admitted to trading on a regulated market of any Member State within the meaning of point 14 of Article 4(1) of Directive 2004/39/EC, credit institutions as defined in point 1 of Article 1of Directive 2000/12/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 March 2000 relating to the taking up and pursuit of the business of credit institutions (16) and insurance undertakings within the meaning of Article 2(1) of Directive 91/674/EEC. Member States may also designate other entities as public-interest entities, for instance entities that are of significant public relevance because of the nature of their business, their size or the number of their employees;

14.

‘cooperative’ means a European Cooperative Society as defined in Article 1 of Council Regulation (EC) No 1435/2003 of 22 July 2003 on the Statute for a European Cooperative Society (SCE) (17), or any other cooperative for which a statutory audit is required under Community law, such as credit institutions as defined in point 1 of Article 1 of Directive 2000/12/EC and insurance undertakings within the meaning of Article 2(1) of Directive 91/674/EEC;

15.

‘non-practitioner’ means any natural person who, for at least three years before his or her involvement in the governance of the public oversight system, has not carried out statutory audits, has not held voting rights in an audit firm, has not been a member of the administrative or management body of an audit firm and has not been employed by, or otherwise associated with, an audit firm;

16.

‘key audit partner(s)’ mean(s):