On 9 March 2018, the Council of the European Union adopted a draft directive postponing the application of new rules on insurance distribution to 1 October 2018 (the “Draft Directive”). The Draft Directive also extends to 1 July 2018 the deadline for member states to transpose the IDD into national laws.

The European Parliament’s reasoning behind recommending the change of the initial deadline from 23 February to 1 October was to give insurance undertakings and insurance distributors more time to prepare for an effective implementation of the IDD. The Draft Directive also notes that a delay was required to ensure legal certainty and to avoid any market disruptions.

The Draft Directive text is available here; it has not yet been published in the Official Journal of the European Union. The European Parliament approved the Draft Directive on 1 March 2018 and the Justice and Home Affairs Council adopted it without discussions.