Part IIIU.K. Conduct of Insurance Business

75 Statutory notice by insurer in relation to long term policy.U.K.

[F1(1)Subject to subsections (5) and (5A) below, unless the requirements of subsection (1A) below are fulfilled—

(a)no insurance company to which Part II of this Act applies and no member of Lloyd’s shall enter into a contract the effecting of which constitutes the carrying on of long term business; and

(b)no company which has been authorised in accordance with Article 6 of the first long term insurance Directive shall enter into a contract the effecting of which constitutes the provision in the United Kingdom of long term insurance within the meaning of Part IIIA of this Act F2.

(1A)The requirements of this subsection are that—

(a)the company or member (“the insurer") sends by post to the other party to the contract, at or before the time when it is entered into, a statutory notice in relation to the contract; or

(b)in the case of an EC contract, a representative of the insurer gives such a notice to that party at that time.

(1B)Where, in the case of an EC contract, a statutory notice is sent to the other party to the contract before the time when it is entered into, the insurer shall, not later than 14 days after the contract has become binding, inform that party in writing that it has done so.]

(2)For the purposes of this section a statutory notice is a notice which—

(a)contains such matters (and no others) and is in such form as may be prescribed for the purposes of this section and complies with such requirements (whether as to type, size, colour or disposition of lettering, quality or colour of paper, or otherwise) as may be prescribed for securing that the notice is easily legible; and

(b)has annexed to it a form of notice of cancellation of the prescribed description for use under section 76 below.

(3)The Secretary of State may, on the application of any insurer, alter the requirements of any regulations made for the purposes of subsection (2)(a) above so as to adapt those requirements to the circumstances of that insurer or to any particular kind of contract proposed to be entered into by that insurer.

(4)Any insurer who contravenes this section shall be guilty of an offence but, without prejudice to section 76(2) below, no contract shall be invalidated by reason of the fact that the insurer has contravened this section in relation to that contract.

(a)the insurer is a company whose head office is in a member State or a member of Lloyd’s; and

(b)the other party is habitually resident in the United Kingdom;

and “non-EC contract" means a contract to which subsection (1) above applies which is not an EC contract.

(5)Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to [F3any non-EC contract] the effecting of which by the insurer constitutes the carrying on of industrial assurance business; and regulations may exempt from that subsection contracts of any other class or description.

[F4(5A)Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to a contract if the party other than the insurer is habitually resident in a member State other than the United Kingdom.

(5B)For the purposes of this section and section 76 below, “EC contract" means a contract to which subsection (1) above applies which fulfils the following conditions, namely—

(a)the insurer is a company whose head office is in a member State or a member of Lloyd’s; and

(b)the other party is habitually resident in the United Kingdom;

and “non-EC contract" means a contract to which subsection (1) above applies which is not an EC contract.

(5C)In the case of a contract involving two or more parties other than the insurer, this section and section 76 below shall have effect as if a separate contract were being or had been entered into by the insurer with each of those parties.]

(6)In sections 76 and 77 below “insurer” and “statutory notice” have the same meaning as in this section.

Textual Amendments

F1S. 75(1A)(1B) substituted for s. 75(1) (20.5.1993) by S.I. 1993/1327, reg. 2(1)

F2Part IIIA was inserted by S.I. 1990/1333, reg. 10 and amended by S.I. 1992/2890, reg. 7 and by S.I. 1993/174, reg. 4.

F3Words in s. 75(5) inserted (20.5.1993) by S.I. 1993/1327, reg. 2(2)

Modifications etc. (not altering text)