Activites

• 1998/12/05 Final act published in Official Journal
  • Directive 1998/78
  • OJ L 330 05.12.1998, p. 0001
• 1998/10/27 Final act signed
• 1998/10/27 End of procedure in Parliament
• #2123
• 1998/10/13 Council Meeting
• 1998/09/16 Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading
  • T4-0489/1998 summary

    The European Parliament rejected the amendments to the recommendation for second reading of Mrs MOSIEK-URBAHN (PPE, D) with regard to the common position of the Council introducing supplementary supervision of insurance undertakings in an insurance group. It adopted the common position of the Council.�

• 1998/09/15 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament
• 1998/07/22 Vote in committee, 2nd reading
  • A4-0286/1998
• 1998/05/28 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 2nd reading
• #2079
• 1998/03/30 Council Meeting
  • 05535/1/1998 summary

    The essence of the initial proposal remains intact in the common position of the Council which takes into account a large number of amendments (19 in all) adopted by the European Parliament on first reading and incorporated by the Commission in its amended proposal. The only major discrepancy between the common position and Parliament's opinion concerns amendment 8, which was not adopted since it restricted the scope of the directive limiting supplementary supervision to nations between parent undertakings and subsidiaries in an insurance group. Many changes contained in the common position relate to the following points: - a definition of a third country insurance undertaking was introduced; - the definition of 'participation' includes the 'durable link' aspect, together with the fact of holding directly or indirectly 20% or more of voting rights or capital of an undertaking; - more precise definition of a 'mixed activity insurance holding company' is introduced, specifically excluding insurance companies of a third country or reinsurance companies - the powers of the Member States or competent authorities to decide in exception cases that a supplementary supervision is not necessary is clarified; - a new provision specifies which authorities are competent when insurance undertakings recognized in two Members States and are subject to supplementary supervision have the same parent company. - direct access to information concerning an enterprise within the group is only granted in cases where this information was not provided by the insurance undertakings subject to supplementary supervision; - the extent of the obligations of the competent authorities regarding reciprocal exchanges of information is specified; - the common position sets a deadline of 18 months for transposition of the directive and the implementation of the directive in the first accounting year following transposition. The Commission shall report to the insurance committee in five years concerning the entry into force of the directive and on the possible need to continue harmonization in this area. Annex I has been considerably changed and expanded in order to: - specify clearly all principles regarding the application of methods of calculation (in particular who is responsible for the choice of the method used; principle of proportionality; general approach to factors relating to solvency margins etc.); - include all the general provisions concerning application of methods of calculation before the description of these methods the drafting of which has been improved and completed by the explanations necessary to interpret them. Annex II has been simplified: it contains only one method of calculation which is enough for the supplementary supervision of the insurance undertakings concerned.�

• 1998/01/28 Modified legislative proposal published
  • COM(1998)0038 summary

    The amended proposal incorporates a number of amendments adopted by Parliament at first reading, particularly those aiming to: - include a definition of a 'third country insurance undertaking'; - include in the definition of 'participation' the criterion of a 'durable link' as provided by Article 17 of Directive 78/660/EEC (while maintaining the automatic criterion of a 20% threshold); - clarify the definition of a 'mixed activity insurance holding company' by specifically excluding third country insurance undertakings and reinsurance undertakings; - ensure that direct access to information about an undertaking or group is granted only when such information has not been supplied by the insurance undertaking subject to supplementary supervision; - change the date of implementation of the Directive (1 January 1999) to bring it into line with the proposed timetable; - specify the first financial year from which the supplementary supervision provided by the Directive shall be applicable (financial year beginning on 1 January 2000); - provide that within five years the Commission is to submit a report to the insurance committee on implementation of the Directive and, if appropriate, on any need for further harmonization in this area. With regard to the annexes, the Commission has also taken account of the amendments aiming to: - accept without restriction certain elements which were totally excluded from the calculation of the adjusted solvency situation in the initial proposal, when they concern the participating insurance undertaking at the level of which the calculation is made; - include a reference to Directive 91/674/EEC on the annual accounts and consolidated accounts of insurance undertakings; - extend the waiver provided in the initial proposal for related undertakings in the same Member State to cases in which the undertaking is related to an insurance undertaking in another Member State; - recognize the funds of an insurance holding company from outside the group; - explain precisely how participating undertakings in a third country should be treated. �

• #2051
• 1997/11/27 Council Meeting
• 1997/10/23 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • T4-0507/1997 summary

    Adopting a report by Mrs Marlies MOSIEK-URBAHN (PPE,D) the European Parliament welcomed the Commission proposal regarding supplementary supervision of insurance undertakings but expresses criticism concerning the provisions establishing stricter limits regarding capital requirements. �

• 1997/10/22 Debate in Parliament
  • Debate in Parliament summary

    Commissioner de Silguy partly accepted Amendments Nos 1, 2, 3 and 14 (only the first paragraph and the first two hyphens). Amendments Nos 7, 10, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 23, 24 and 27 could be accepted in their sprit dependent on certain changes in their wording. As for Amendment No 8 on parent-branch relationships, its adoption would, according to the Commissioner, deprive the proposal of an important part of its impact, by considerably reducing the directive’s scope. For the same reasons, the Commission could not accept Amendment No 22 which would leave to the discretion of the Member States the application to reinsurance companies of the key provisions of the directive. Furthermore, Mr de Silguy considered that Amendments Nos 4, 5, 6, 9, 20, 25 and 26 should be rejected as they would reduce the text’s coherence, given other elements of the proposal. Finally, he rejected the idea that this proposal might create additional costs, both for the insurance sector and for the consumer.

• 1997/09/24 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0295/1997
• 1997/05/12 Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading
  • COM(1995)0406 summary

    OBJECTIVE: To give insurance supervisors more effective instruments to ascertain the true solvency of an insurance undertaking that is part of an insurance group. This will enhance the protection of policy holders and introduce level competitive playing fields amongst insurance undertakings in the Community. COMMUNITY MEASURE: Proposal for a European Parliament and Council directive on the supplementary supervision of insurance undertakings in an insurance group. SUBSTANCE: - Definition of the terms 'parent undertaking - subsidiary': this definition refers to undertakings under the terms of the seventh company law directive (83/349/EEC) and also includes any undertaking which in the view of the supervising authorities exercises a dominant influence over another undertaking; - definition of the concept of 'participation': it is proposed that the definition threshold for a participation in another undertaking be set at at least 20% of the capital or voting rights; - the scope of application of the measures is limited to insurance undertakings with their registered office in the Community; - the Member States are required to extend supervision to all other entities that could have a bearing on the financial and operating position of a supervised insurance undertaking; - the competent authorities of the Member States are obliged to exercise any additional functions when an insurance undertaking is part of a group; - the relevant information should be available to the supervising authorities; in each insurance undertaking or financial holding company, that is a parent or holds a participation in one or more insurance undertakings, financial holding companies or related undertakings, there should be adequate internal procedures to produce relevant information; - the insurance supervisors must have a 'droit de suite' guaranteeing them direct access to information held by the enterprises; this right should apply with regard to: . any undertaking of which an insurance undertaking is a parent or a subsidiary, . any undertaking in which an insurance undertaking holds a participation; - the competent authorities may obtain the information either directly or through a supervised insurance undertaking; they may verify on the spot any information received; rules on cooperation between the competent authorities are introduced with regard to acquiring information; - the competent authorities must communicate to each other all relevant information that is likely to simplify their task and allow the supervision of the activity and financial situation of the insurance undertakings under their supervisory responsibility; - the Member States establish in principle that intra-group transactions should be conducted on market terms; the authorities should be informed of intra-group transactions by way of an annual reporting requirement, concerning only significant transactions; - the Member States are required to ensure that an adjusted solvency calculation is carried out, to prevent double gearing of capital; Annex I to the proposal contains a description of the three methods that can be applied to this end; - the Member States must take account of the fact that an insurance holding company at the top of a group or in an intermediate position may impact the financial position of an insurance undertaking; Annex II proposes two methods to apply a capital test to a holding company owning one or more insurance subsidiaries; the choice of method is left to the Member States. �

• 1997/04/16 Vote in committee, 1st reading/single reading
  • A4-0157/1997
• 1995/10/27 Committee referral announced in Parliament, 1st reading/single reading

Documents

• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0157/1997
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: COM(1995)0406
• Committee report tabled for plenary, 1st reading/single reading: A4-0295/1997
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 1st reading/single reading: T4-0507/1997
• Modified legislative proposal published: COM(1998)0038
• Council position published: 05535/1/1998
• Committee recommendation tabled for plenary, 2nd reading: A4-0286/1998
• Debate in Parliament: Debate in Parliament
• Decision by Parliament, 2nd reading: T4-0489/1998
• : Directive 1998/78
• : OJ L 330 05.12.1998, p. 0001

History

(these mark the time of scraping, not the official date of the change)