"They are still finetuning the wording of the based operator and what timeframe makes a visiting aircraft a based aircraft" - that will take long
it's extremely difficult to determine the "base". there are planty of operators having their corporate jets "based" in 4-5 different locations, so what's the base for this operator ?
Re regulation for European operators (AOC holders) "your pilots have to have JAR/EASA licenses" - It's been like that for quite a while , one can get validation of his/her FAA license from local NAA (only once) for a period of 12 month, if i remember properly. after you have to get your JAR/EASA license.