Press Release: Antitrust: Commission preliminary views on renewal of Insurance Block Exemption Regulation

The European Commission adopted a report on the functioning of the Insurance Block Exemption Regulation (BER). The BER, which will expire on 31 March 2010, exempts certain agreements between insurance companies from EC Treaty antitrust rules' ban on restrictive business practices (Article 81). Agreements currently covered by the BER include the establishment of non-binding standard policy conditions, the exchange of statistical information for the calculation of risks and the creation of insurance pools. The Report considers, at this stage, that two of the four categories of agreements currently exempted by the BER could be renewed, namely information exchange and insurance pools. A public hearing will take place on 2 June 2009 to allow stakeholders to submit their views orally. The Commission will then take a final decision on the future of the BER.

European Commission: MEMO/09/128: Antitrust: review of Insurance Block Exemption Regulation – frequently asked questions http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/09/128&format=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en

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