9. —(1) Where an unclaimed policy is held at an insurance undertaking and—

(a) subject to any order made under subsection (7), the value of the policy is less than €500 or its equivalent in any other currency,

(b) the insurance undertaking has been instructed by the policy holder not to correspond with or contact the policy holder, or

(c) the insurance undertaking has taken all reasonable steps to notify the policy holder in accordance with section 8 and fails to do so,

section 8 does not apply and the insurance undertaking shall publish or cause to have published a notice in 2 or more daily newspapers circulating in the State and in Iris Oifigiúil.

(2) The notice shall be published—

(a) in the case of the first notice published after the commencement of this section, on 21 March 2003, and

(b) in the case of each subsequent notice, on the first weekday in October in each year commencing on 1 October 2003.

(3) The notice shall be in the prescribed form or in a form to the like effect and shall contain the following information:

(a) subject to subsection (4), the name of the insurance undertaking, the current address of its head office and any information regarding a change of name;

(b) that the undertaking holds unclaimed policies;

(c) that if no communication is received by the insurance undertaking from the holder of an unclaimed policy on or before 31 March next following, commencing on 31 March 2004, the net encashment value of the policy will be transferred to the Fund without further notice to the policy holder;

(d) that any interested person should contact the insurance undertaking to establish if he or she is a policy holder and entitled to any moneys payable under an unclaimed policy;

(e) that policy holders are entitled, subject to this Act, and the terms and conditions of the policy concerned, to claim the moneys payable under the policy from the insurance undertaking;

(f) any additional information that may be prescribed.

(4) (a) An insurance undertaking which publishes, or causes to have published, on its behalf, a notice under this section shall, on request, make available free of charge—

(i) details of the current address of its head office and any information regarding a change of name, and

(ii) subject to paragraph (b), any other relevant information specified in the request.

(b) Where the information referred to in paragraph (a)(ii) is otherwise made available to persons subject to a lawful charge, that information may be made available under this subsection subject to that charge.

(5) Copies of a notice published under this section shall be—

(a) permanently displayed in a prominent position at each premises in which the insurance undertaking carries on business in the State and which is open to the public, and

(b) published in a prominent position in all brochures and publicity material, in relation to unclaimed policies, issued by the undertaking.

(6) An insurance undertaking that fails to comply with this section is guilty of an offence.

(7) The Minister may, by order, amend at any time the amount specified in subsection (1)(a) if the Minister—

(a) considers it appropriate to do so having regard to all the circumstances, and

(b) is satisfied that by doing so members of the public will not be prejudiced.

(8) The Minister may by order amend or revoke an order made under this section, including an order made under this subsection.