Exemption for certain agreements in the insurance sector

This regulation provides an exemption for certain agreements in the insurance sector, relating to the compilation of statistical information necessary for the purpose of calculating risks, and to the common coverage of certain types of risks. The objective of this regulation is to ensure effective protection of competition within the European Union (EU) while providing benefits to consumers and adequate legal security for undertakings.

ACT

Commission Regulation (EU) No 267/2010 of 24 March 2010 on the application of Article 101(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union to certain categories of agreements, decisions and concerted practices in the insurance sector.

SUMMARY

This regulation applies, subject to certain conditions, to agreements between two or more undertakings in the insurance sector relating to the exchange of information necessary for the purpose of calculating risks. This includes the calculation of the cost of covering specified risks in the past, the compilation of statistical information and the construction of the relevant tables of information, the joint carrying-out of studies and the distribution of the related results.

Conditions for exemption

To be exempt, the compilations or tables must:

• be based on the compilation of data over a set period of time, providing statistics on the:
• include a breakdown of the available statistics;
• not include elements for contingencies, income deriving from reserves, administrative or commercial costs or fiscal or parafiscal contributions, and do not take into account revenue from investments or anticipated profits.

To be exempt, the compilations, tables or study results must:

• not identify the insurance undertakings concerned or any insured party;
• state that they are non-binding;
• not indicate the level of commercial premiums *;
• be made available to any insurance undertaking which requests a copy;
• be made available to consumer organisations or customer organisations which request them for a specific reason, except where non-disclosure is justified on grounds of public security.

Exemptions are not applicable to agreements in which participating undertakings commit among themselves, or oblige other undertakings, not to use compilations or tables that differ from those above, or not to depart from the results of the studies referred to above.

COMMON COVERAGE OF CERTAIN TYPES OF RISKS

This regulation also applies, subject to certain conditions, to agreements between two or more undertakings in the insurance sector relating to the setting-up and operation of pools of insurance undertakings or of insurance undertakings and reinsurance undertakings for the common coverage of a specific category of risks in the form of co-insurance * or co-reinsurance.

Application of exemption

With regard to co-insurance or co-reinsurance pools exclusively created to cover new risks, the exemption will be applicable for three years from the date of the first establishment of the pool, regardless of the market share of the pool. With regard to co-insurance or co-reinsurance pools not exclusively created to cover new risks, the exemption will be applicable for as long as this regulation remains in force, so long as the combined market share held by the participating undertakings does not exceed:

• 20% of any relevant market in the case of co-insurance pools;
• 25% of any relevant market in the case of co-reinsurance pools.

Conditions for exemption

To be exempt, the following conditions must be fulfilled:

• each participating undertaking has the right to withdraw from the pool, with a reasonable period of notice, without incurring any sanctions;
• participating undertakings are not obliged by the rules of the pool to insure or reinsure through the pool;
• the activity of the pool or its participating undertakings is not geographically restricted by the rules of the pool;
• the agreement does not limit output or sales;
• the agreement does not allocate markets or customers;
• the participating undertakings of a co-reinsurance pool do not agree on the commercial premiums which they charge for direct insurance.

This regulation will expire on 31 March 2017.

Background

This regulation builds on Regulation (EC) No 358/2003, which expired on 31 March 2010. Regulation (EU) No 267/2010 continues the approach taken in Regulation (EC) No 358/2003 by placing an emphasis on defining categories of agreements which are exempted up to a certain level of market share and by specifying the restrictions or clauses which are not to be contained in such agreements. Whereas Regulation (EC) No 358/2003 granted an exemption for the establishment of standard policy conditions and the testing and acceptance of security devices, it was not considered necessary to include such agreements in a sector specific block exemption regulation and therefore is not included in Regulation (EU) No 267/2010. An individual assessment under Article 101(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and, if applicable, under Article 101(3) TFEU rather than under this Block Exemption Regulation is now required for these agreements.

Last updated: 23.11.2010