• the pension is an Excluded Account in a partner jurisdiction under the domestic laws implementing the Common Reporting Standard or EU Directive on Administrative Cooperation in Tax Matters (as appropriate) or is included as an exempt product under a FATCA Agreement between that partner jurisdiction and the USA or is included as an exempt product in Annex III of any of the agreements between the UK and the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories, and
• the account or product written by the UK financial institution is subject to the same requirements and oversight under the laws of such partner jurisdiction as if such account or product were established in that partner jurisdiction and maintained by a partner jurisdiction financial institution in that partner jurisdiction.

Example

A UK Insurance Company directly writes pension business into the Netherlands, but it has no permanent establishment in the Netherlands. The pension account that is offered fully complies with Dutch pension and tax law, and consequently would be exempt for EU Directive purposes as well as under the Dutch/US FATCA IGA if the financial account was maintained by a Dutch-based Insurance Company.

If the account or product does not meet these criteria, then this will be a non-registered pension in the UK. It may still be an exempt account if:

• Annual contributions are limited to £50,000; and 
• The funds contributed cannot be accessed before the age of 55, except in circumstances of severe ill health.