That took on a life of its own, as a result of which we were able to create an electronic community based on practices and to achieve all kinds of other objectives.

1. Member States shall not apply to a branch of an electronic money institution having its head office outside the Community, when taking up or pursuing its business, provisions which result in more favourable treatment than that accorded to an electronic money institution having its head office within the Community.

electronic money institutions as defined in point 1 of Article 2 of this Directive including, in accordance with Article 8 of this Directive and national law, a branch thereof, where such a branch is located within the Community and its head office is located outside the Community;

3. Without prejudice to paragraph 1, the Community may, through agreements concluded with one or more third countries, agree to apply provisions that ensure that branches of an electronic money institution having its head office outside the Community are treated identically throughout the Community.

The Community should be able to conclude agreements with third countries providing for the application of rules which accord branches of electronic money institutions which have their head office outside the Community the same treatment throughout the Community.

(16) This Directive contributes to the use and legal recognition of electronic signatures within the Community; a regulatory framework is not needed for electronic signatures exclusively used within systems, which are based on voluntary agreements under private law between a specified number of participants; the freedom of parties to agree among themselves the terms and conditions under which they accept electronically signed data should be respected to the extent allowed by national law; the legal effectiveness of electronic signatures used in such systems and their admis ...[+++]sibility as evidence in legal proceedings should be recognised;