1598. (1) Subject to subsection (4), an applicable holding company that is a subsidiary of another undertaking shall be exempted from the obligations set out in section 1596 if –

(a) the applicable holding company and its subsidiaries are included in the group directors’ report of that other undertaking drawn up in accordance with Part 6 and this Part, and

(b) the conditions set out in section 1599 are met.

(2) Subject to subsection (4), an applicable holding company that is a subsidiary of a third-country undertaking shall be exempted from the obligations set out in section 1596 if –

(a) the applicable holding company and its subsidiaries are included in the consolidated sustainability reporting of that third-country undertaking,

(b) that consolidated sustainability reporting has been carried out in accordance with the sustainability reporting standards or in a manner equivalent to those sustainability reporting standards, as determined in accordance with an implementing act on the equivalence of sustainability reporting standards adopted by the EU Commission pursuant to the third subparagraph of Article 23(4) of Directive 2004/109/EC, and

(c) the conditions set out in section 1599 are met.

(3) For the purposes of this section –

(a) where Article 10 of Regulation (EU) No 575/2013 applies, credit institutions that are permanently affiliated to a central body which supervises them under the conditions laid down in Article 10 of that Regulation shall be treated as subsidiary undertakings of that central body, and

(b) insurance undertakings that are part of a group, on the basis of financial relationships referred to in point (c)(ii) of Article 212(1) of Directive 2009/138/EC, and which are subject to group supervision in accordance with points (a) to (c) of Article 213(2) of that Directive shall be treated as subsidiary undertakings of the holding undertaking of that group.

(4) This section shall not apply to an applicable holding company that is a public-interest entity.]