European Communities (Non-Life Insurance) (Amendment) Regulations, 1991

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Year: 1991
• Citation: IR SI 5/1991

S.I. No. 5 of 1991.

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (NON-LIFE INSURANCE) (AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 1991.

I, DESMOND O'MALLEY, Minister for Industry and Commerce, in exercise of the powers conferred on me by section 3 of the European Communities Act, 1972 (No. 27 of 1972), and for the purpose of giving effect to Council Directive No. 87/343/EEC of 22 June, 19871 hereby make the following Regulations: 1. These Regulations may be cited as the European Communities (Non-Life Insurance) (Amendment) Regulations, 1991, and shall come into operation on the 11th day of January, 1991. 2. In these Regulations—

"Council Directive" means Council Directive No. 87/343/EEC1;

"The Principal Regulations" means the European Communities (Non-Life Insurance) Regulations, 1976 ( S.I. No. 115 of 1976 ). 3. Article 2 of the Principal Regulations is hereby amended by the substitution in subarticle (1) of the following definition for the definition of "the Directive":

"'The Directive' means Council Directive 73/239/EEC* as amended by Council Directive 87/343/EEC of 22 June, 1987, O.J. No. L185, 4.7.1987, pp. 72-76;" 4. Article 14 of the Principal Regulations is hereby amended by the insertion of the following subarticle after subarticle (7):

"(8) (a) Any undertaking which is underwriting risks included in class 14 in Section A of the Annex (referred to subsequently in these Regulations as 'credit insurance') shall, subject to paragraph (d) of this subarticle set up an equalisation reserve for the purpose of offsetting any technical deficit or above-average claims ratio arising in that class for a financial year.

1 O.J. L185, 4.7.1987, pp. 72-76.

(b) The equalization reserve shall be calculated in accordance with whichever of the four methods set out in Section D of the Annex is chosen by the undertaking concerned, with the approval of the Minister.

(c) The equalization reserve shall be disregarded for the purpose of calculating the solvency margin, up to the amount calculated in accordance with the method chosen as aforesaid.

(d) Paragraph (a) does not apply to undertakings for which the premiums or contributions receivable in respect of their credit insurance business are less than 4 per cent of the total premiums or contributions receivable by them and less than 2,500,000 ECU." 5. Article 16 of the Principal Regulations is hereby amended by the substitution in subarticle 4 of the following paragraph for paragraph (b):

"(b) in the case of an undertaking which substantially underwrites one or more of the risks of credit, storm, hail or frost only, the preceding seven financial years shall be taken as the period of reference for the average burden of claims." 6. Article 19 of the Principal Regulations is hereby amended—

(a) in subarticle (3) by the substitution of the following paragraphs for paragraph (a):

"(a) 1,400,000 ECU in a case where all or some of the risks included in that class are covered, as respects an undertaking for which the annual amount of premiums or contributions due in the class listed in Section A of the Annex at Reference Number 14 for each of the preceding three financial years exceeded 2,500,000 ECU or 4 per cent of the total amount of premiums or contributions receivable by that undertaking,

(a) (a) 400,000 ECU in a case where all or some of the risks included in any one of the classes listed in Section A of the Annex at reference numbers 10, 11, 12, 13 and 15 and (as respects undertakings other than those referred to in paragraph (a)) reference number 14...