Press Release: State aid: Commission calls on France to put an end to certain tax exemptions for mutual and provident societies

The European Commission on 2 March 2005 adopted a recommendation calling on France to abolish, by 1 January 2006, the exemption from tax on insurance contracts enjoyed by mutual and provident societies in the case of non-health insurance risks. The Commission considered that the exemption constituted state aid incompatible with the EU rules on the subject. Back in November 2001, it had called on France to abolish the exemption from the tax on insurance contracts in the case of health insurance risks.