Commission consults on revised draft Block Exemption regulation for insurance sector
On 5 October 2009, the Commission announced that it is inviting comments on its revised draft Block Exemption Regulation (“BER”) for the insurance sector. The previous insurance BER expires on 31 March 2010.
The purpose of the BER is to exempt certain agreements between insurance companies from the EU prohibition on cartel activity and restrictive business practices under Article 81 of the EC Treaty.
There are currently several categories of agreements exempted by the BER, including: co-operation and information sharing between insurers; the joint establishment of standard policy conditions for direct insurance, and non-binding models on profits; the setting up and operation of certain co-insurance or reinsurance pools; the joint testing and acceptance of agreements relating to security devices, which involves their installation and maintenance, as well as ensuring compliance. The Commission believes that the BER should no longer cover the establishment of non-binding standard policy conditions or agreements on security devices. It plans to retain two of the categories with minor amendments: the co-operation and information sharing between insurers and the creation and operation of insurance pools.
The Commission is seeking views on three issues in particular: (1) whether the insurance sector is “special” compared to other sectors, with an enhanced need for cooperation; (2) if so, does this enhanced need require a legal instrument to protect or facilitate it; (3) and if so, what is the most appropriate legal instrument?
The consultation ends on 30 November 2009.
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