Directive 2002/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (repealed)Show full title

CHAPTER II U.K. REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS

Article 3 U.K. Registration

1. Insurance and reinsurance intermediaries shall be registered with a competent authority as defined in Article 7(2), in their home Member State.

Without prejudice to the first subparagraph, Member States may stipulate that insurance and reinsurance undertakings and other bodies may collaborate with the competent authorities in registering insurance and reinsurance intermediaries and in the application of the requirements of Article 4 to such intermediaries. In particular, in the case of tied insurance intermediaries, they may be registered by an insurance undertaking or by an association of insurance undertakings under the supervision of a competent authority.

Member States need not apply the requirement referred to in the first and second subparagraphs to all the natural persons who work in an undertaking and pursue the activity of insurance or reinsurance mediation.

As regards legal persons, Member States shall register such persons and shall also specify in the register the names of the natural persons within the management who are responsible for the mediation business.

2. Member States may establish more than one register for insurance and reinsurance intermediaries provided that they lay down the criteria according to which intermediaries are to be registered.

Member States shall see to it that a single information point is established allowing quick and easy access to information from these various registers, which shall be compiled electronically and kept constantly updated. This information point shall also provide the identification details of the competent authorities of each Member State referred to in paragraph 1, first subparagraph. The register shall indicate further the country or countries in which the intermediary conducts business under the rules on the freedom of establishment or on the freedom to provide services.

3. Member States shall ensure that registration of insurance intermediaries — including tied ones — and reinsurance intermediaries is made subject to the fulfilment of the professional requirements laid down in Article 4.

Member States shall also ensure that insurance intermediaries — including tied ones — and reinsurance intermediaries who cease to fulfil these requirements are removed from the register. The validity of the registration shall be subject to a regular review by the competent authority. If necessary, the home Member State shall inform the host Member State of such removal, by any appropriate means.

4. The competent authorities may provide the insurance and reinsurance intermediaries with a document enabling any interested party by consultation of the register(s) referred to in paragraph 2 to verify that they are duly registered.

That document shall at least provide the information specified in Article 12(1)(a) and (b), and, in the case of a legal person, the name(s) of the natural person(s) referred to in the fourth subparagraph of paragraph 1 of this Article.

The Member State shall require the return of the document to the competent authority which issued it when the insurance or reinsurance intermediary concerned ceases to be registered.

5. Registered insurance and reinsurance intermediaries shall be allowed to take up and pursue the activity of insurance and reinsurance mediation in the Community by means of both freedom of establishment and freedom to provide services.

6. Member States shall ensure that insurance undertakings use the insurance and reinsurance mediation services only of registered insurance and reinsurance intermediaries and of the persons referred to in Article 1(2).

Article 4 U.K. Professional requirements

1. Insurance and reinsurance intermediaries shall possess appropriate knowledge and ability, as determined by the home Member State of the intermediary.

Home Member States may adjust the required conditions with regard to knowledge and ability in line with the activity of insurance or reinsurance mediation and the products distributed, particularly if the principal professional activity of the intermediary is other than insurance mediation. In such cases, that intermediary may pursue an activity of insurance mediation only if an insurance intermediary fulfilling the conditions of this Article or an insurance undertaking assumes full responsibility for his actions.

Member States may provide that for the cases referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 3(1), the insurance undertaking shall verify that the knowledge and ability of the intermediaries are in conformity with the obligations set out in the first subparagraph of this paragraph and, if need be, shall provide such intermediaries with training which corresponds to the requirements concerning the products sold by the intermediaries.

Member States need not apply the requirement referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph to all the natural persons working in an undertaking who pursue the activity of insurance or reinsurance mediation. Member States shall ensure that a reasonable proportion of the persons within the management structure of such undertakings who are responsible for mediation in respect of insurance products and all other persons directly involved in insurance or reinsurance mediation demonstrate the knowledge and ability necessary for the performance of their duties.

2. Insurance and reinsurance intermediaries shall be of good repute. As a minimum, they shall have a clean police record or any other national equivalent in relation to serious criminal offences linked to crimes against property or other crimes related to financial activities and they should not have previously been declared bankrupt, unless they have been rehabilitated in accordance with national law.

Member States may, in accordance with the provisions of the second subparagraph of Article 3(1), allow the insurance undertaking to check the good repute of insurance intermediaries.

Member States need not apply the requirement referred to in the first subparagraph of this paragraph to all the natural persons who work in an undertaking and who pursue the activity of insurance and reinsurance mediation. Member States shall ensure that the management structure of such undertakings and any staff directly involved in insurance or reinsurance mediation fulfil that requirement.

3. Insurance and reinsurance intermediaries shall hold professional indemnity insurance covering the whole territory of the Community or some other comparable guarantee against liability arising from professional negligence, for at least EUR 1 000 000 applying to each claim and in aggregate EUR 1 500 000 per year for all claims, unless such insurance or comparable guarantee is already provided by an insurance undertaking, reinsurance undertaking or other undertaking on whose behalf the insurance or reinsurance intermediary is acting or for which the insurance or reinsurance intermediary is empowered to act or such undertaking has taken on full responsibility for the intermediary's actions.

4. Member States shall take all necessary measures to protect customers against the inability of the insurance intermediary to transfer the premium to the insurance undertaking or to transfer the amount of claim or return premium to the insured.

Such measures shall take any one or more of the following forms:

(a) provisions laid down by law or contract whereby monies paid by the customer to the intermediary are treated as having been paid to the undertaking, whereas monies paid by the undertaking to the intermediary are not treated as having been paid to the customer until the customer actually receives them;

(b) a requirement for insurance intermediaries to have financial capacity amounting, on a permanent basis, to 4 % of the sum of annual premiums received, subject to a minimum of EUR 15 000;

(c) a requirement that customers' monies shall be transferred via strictly segregated client accounts and that these accounts shall not be used to reimburse other creditors in the event of bankruptcy;

(d) a requirement that a guarantee fund be set up.

5. Pursuit of the activities of insurance and reinsurance mediation shall require that the professional requirements set out in this Article be fulfilled on permanent basis.

6. Member States may reinforce the requirements set out in this Article or add other requirements for insurance and reinsurance intermediaries registered within their jurisdiction.

7. The amounts referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 shall be reviewed regularly in order to take account of changes in the European Index of Consumer Prices as published by Eurostat. The first review shall take place five years after the entry into force of this Directive and the successive reviews every five years after the previous review date.

The amounts shall be adapted automatically by increasing the base amount in euro by the percentage change in that Index over the period between the entry into force of this Directive and the first review date or between the last review date and the new review date and rounded up to the nearest euro.

Article 5 U.K. Retention of acquired rights

Member States may provide that those persons who exercised a mediation activity before 1 September 2000, who were entered in a register and who had a level of training and experience similar to that required by this Directive, shall be automatically entered in the register to be created, once the requirements set down in Article 4(3) and (4) are complied with.

Article 6 U.K. Notification of establishment and services in other Member States

1. Any insurance or reinsurance intermediary intending to carry on business for the first time in one or more Member States under the freedom to provide services or the freedom of establishment shall inform the competent authorities of the home Member State.

Within a period of one month after such notification, those competent authorities shall inform the competent authorities of any host Member States wishing to know, of the intention of the insurance or reinsurance intermediary and shall at the same time inform the intermediary concerned.

The insurance or reinsurance intermediary may start business one month after the date on which he was informed by the competent authorities of the home Member State of the notification referred to in the second subparagraph. However, that intermediary may start business immediately if the host Member State does not wish to be informed of the fact.

2. Member States shall notify the Commission of their wish to be informed in accordance with paragraph 1. The Commission shall in turn notify all the Member States of this.

3. The competent authorities of the host Member State may take the necessary steps to ensure appropriate publication of the conditions under which, in the interest of the general good, the business concerned must be carried on in their territories.

Article 7 U.K. Competent authorities

1. Member States shall designate the competent authorities empowered to ensure implementation of this Directive. They shall inform the Commission thereof, indicating any division of those duties.

2. The authorities referred to in paragraph 1 shall be either public authorities or bodies recognised by national law or by public authorities expressly empowered for that purpose by national law. They shall not be insurance or reinsurance undertakings.

3. The competent authorities shall possess all the powers necessary for the performance of their duties. Where there is more than one competent authority on its territory, a Member State shall ensure that those authorities collaborate closely so that they can discharge their respective duties effectively.

Article 8 U.K. Sanctions

1. Member States shall provide for appropriate sanctions in the event that a person exercising the activity of insurance or reinsurance mediation is not registered in a Member State and is not referred to in Article 1(2).

2. Member States shall provide for appropriate sanctions against insurance or reinsurance undertakings which use the insurance or reinsurance mediation services of persons who are not registered in a Member State and who are not referred to in Article 1(2).

3. Member States shall provide for appropriate sanctions in the event of an insurance or reinsurance intermediary's failure to comply with national provisions adopted pursuant to this Directive.

4. This Directive shall not affect the power of the host Member States to take appropriate measures to prevent or to penalise irregularities committed within their territories which are contrary to legal or regulatory provisions adopted in the interest of the general good. This shall include the possibility of preventing offending insurance or reinsurance intermediaries from initiating any further activities within their territories.

5. Any measure adopted involving sanctions or restrictions on the activities of an insurance or reinsurance intermediary must be properly justified and communicated to the intermediary concerned. Every such measure shall be subject to the right to apply to the courts in the Member State which adopted it.

Article 9 U.K. Exchange of information between Member States

1. The competent authorities of the various Member States shall cooperate in order to ensure the proper application of the provisions of this Directive.

2. The competent authorities shall exchange information on insurance and reinsurance intermediaries if they have been subject to a sanction referred to in Article 8(3) or a measure referred to in Article 8(4) and such information is likely to lead to removal from the register of such intermediaries. The competent authorities may also exchange any relevant information at the request of an authority.

3. All persons required to receive or divulge information in connection with this Directive shall be bound by professional secrecy, in the same manner as is laid down in Article 16 of Council Directive 92/49/EEC of 18 June 1992 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to direct insurance other than life assurance and amending Directives 73/239/EEC and 88/357/EEC (third non-life insurance Directive)(1) and Article 15 of Council Directive 92/96/EEC of 10 November 1992 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to direct life assurance and amending Directives 79/267/EEC and 90/619/EEC (third life assurance Directive)(2).

Article 10 U.K. Complaints

Member States shall ensure that procedures are set up which allow customers and other interested parties, especially consumer associations, to register complaints about insurance and reinsurance intermediaries. In all cases complaints shall receive replies.

Article 11 U.K. Out-of-court redress

1. Member States shall encourage the setting-up of appropriate and effective complaints and redress procedures for the out-of-court settlement of disputes between insurance intermediaries and customers, using existing bodies where appropriate.

2. Member States shall encourage these bodies to cooperate in the resolution of cross-border disputes.

(1)

OJ L 228, 11.8.1992, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Directive 2000/64/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 290, 17.11.2000, p. 27).

(2)

OJ L 360, 9.12.1992, p. 1. Directive as last amended by Directive 2000/64/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council.