Insurance agent insurance broker

European Union

GOVERNMENT OF ROMANIA Ministry of Labour, Family, Social Protection and Elderly MASOPHRD

European Social Fund SOP HRD 2007-2013

GOVERNMENT OF ROMANIA Ministry of Education Structural Instruments 2007 - 2013

Invest in people!

EUROPEAN SOCIAL FUND Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007 - 2013 Priority Axis 3 "Increasing adaptability of workers and enterprises" Key Area of Intervention 3.3 " Development of partnerships and encouraging initiatives for social partners and civil society."

Project Title: “Network of Competent Authorities for Professional Qualifications in Romania (IMI PQ NET Romania)" Beneficiary: Ministry of National Education Contract no. POSDRU/93/3.3/S/53132

GUIDE ON COMPETENCE CERTIFICATION AND QUALIFICATION RECOGNITION FOR THE INSURANCE AGENT AND INSURANCE BROKER

Author: Dr. Irina Dumitriu July 2013

Project co financed by the European Social Fund Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007 - 2013 Invest in people! http://www.imipqnet.ro

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION..............……………………………………………...…………………….3 1. REGULATORY SITUATION IN ROMANIA AND OTHER EU MS OF THE INSURANCE AGENT AND INSURANCE BROKER PROFESSIONS…….………...…….5 2. COMPETENCES CERTIFICATION PROCEDURES APPLIED BY THE CA FOR THE INSURANCE AGENT AND INSURANCE BROKER PROFESSIONS...............................18 3. RECOGNITION PROCESSES OF QUALIFICATIONS ACQUIRED IN OTHER EU MS IN ORDER TO PRACTICE THE INSURANCE AGENT AND INSURANCE BROKER PROFESSIONS…………………………………………………………................................22 4. EXERCISE OF THE INSURANCE AGENT AND INSURANCE BROKER PROFESSIONS IN THE EU....................................................................................…...…….32 5. CONCLUSIONS.…………………………………………………………………………..37 BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………….39 ABBREVIATIONS...………………………………………………………………………...41 USEFUL LINKS……………………………………………………………………………...44

INTRODUCTION The Guidelines on competence certification and qualification recognition for the insurance agent and insurance broker professions is one of the results of the “Network of Competent Authorities for Professional Qualifications in Romania (IMI PQ NET Romania) Project " implemented by the Ministry of National Education (MEN) in partnership with the National Qualifications Authority (ANC) and the Institute for Social Policy (IPS), co-financed by the European Social Fund through the Sectoral Operational Programme Human Resources Development 2007-2013 (SOP HRD) Within the IMI PQ NET Romania project there have been analyzed, together with the competent authorities (CA) members of the project working group, the procedures for validation and certification of competences and qualifications recognition processes for each regulated profession separately and, on that basis, there have been developed standard scheme for validation / certification of competences procedure and for the qualifications recognition process for corresponding regulated professions. The final result of these activities is the paper "Standard guiding terms of reference for the procedures validation and certification of competences and qualifications recognition processes", which can be accessed at…………………………………………………

This paper includes the basic terminology (definitions of terms used also in the guidelines) and standardization schemes for the certification of competences and qualifications recognition processes and therefore it was the basis for the elaboration a number of 30 guidelines for certification and recognition for different regulated professions, guidelines aimed at supporting CA from Romania in their efforts to standardize these procedures and processes by informing them about the practices of counterparts CA from other Member States (MS) of the EU. However, each individual guideline will address individuals which have acquired qualifications in the respective areas of activity in Romania and want to practice the profession in one of the EU MS presented in the guide.

The analysis was performed for Romania and another 8 EU MS (Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Italy, United Kingdom, Netherlands and Spain), but the guidelines also includes some general information resulting from researching the database with regulated professions from all MS of the EU, the European Economic Area (EEA) and the Swiss Confederation, developed by the European Commission (EC) Directorate General for Single Internal Market (DG Internal Market) (http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/regprof /index.cfm?newlang =en). The authors of the guidelines have studied the European legislation and of the respective states regarding the acquiring of qualifications, education and vocational training system, types of documents for competences certification (diplomas, certificates, certificates of competency, professional titles), regulations regarding the recognition of qualifications and the regulated professions under Directive 2005/36/EC on recognition of professional qualifications, as well as, if necessary, sectoral specific directives In the case of some EU MS analyzed (Denmark, Germany, Italy, UK, Netherlands and Spain); there have been organized study visits with the participation of the representatives of IMI PQ NET Ro Network members established within the project, and also MEN and ANC experts. During the visits, meetings were organized with representatives of the national CA but also CA which manages various regulated professions; occasions on which the guidelines authors were able to gather more specific information from the source.

In conclusion, the realization of the Guidelines on competence certification and qualification recognition for the insurance agent and insurance broker professions aims to:

• providing to the stakeholders the informations on the certification of competence and recognition processes applied by CA from other EU MS for professions insurance agent and insurance broker, professions that in Romania were originally regulated the Commission Insurance Supervision (CSA), and are now regulated by the new Financial Supervisory Authority (FSA); • inform all persons who have acquired the financial auditor qualification in Romania and wish to perform activities in the field of insurance mediation in one of the EU MS presented in the guide.

Taking into account these two major objectives referred to in of this guideline, we should note both the opportunity of its current drafting and its limitations due to the events in the global financial markets during the period in which it was realised: • on the one hand, we believe that a comparative analysis of the regulation of the professions in the mediation of insurance products (including re-regulation processes in progress) in several EU MS is welcome for the insurance industry in Romania; • on the other hand, due to the re-regulation of international financial markets and of the EU MS, the information presented in the guide is highly "perishable", thus resulting the urgent need of updating it quick enough in order make the guide remain relevant for the public interested in practicing the professions of insurance products mediation in Romania or in one of the EU MS presented.

1. REGULATORY SITUATION IN ROMANIA AND IN THE OTHER EU MS OF INSURANCE AGENT AND INSURANCE BROKER PROFESSIONS The current European regulatory framework on the recognition of professional qualifications acquired in EU MS is composed primarily by the Directive 2005/36/EC of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications but also by a number of sectoral directives as Directive 2002/92/EC in the case of from insurance brokers.

The Directive 2005/36/EC establishes a system for recognition of professional qualifications in order to improve the EU labor market flexibility, to continue liberalization of the provision of services, to encourage automatic recognition of qualifications and simplify the administrative procedures. This directive applies to all European citizens who wish to exercise a regulated profession either as self-employed or as an employee in other MS than that in which they obtained their professional qualifications and make distinction between "freedom to provide services "and" freedom of establishment” based on criteria such as duration, frequency, regularity and continuity of service provision.

From the point of view of the way in which can be done the recognition of professional qualifications covered by it, the Directive 2005/36/EC covers the following recognition systems: • The automatic recognition system of certified qualifications by professional experience in certain industrial, craft and commercial activities for which the items taken into account for the recognition of professional experience are the length and its type and prior formation proven by a certificate recognized by the Member State or considered valid by a professional body, • The system of automatic recognition of qualifications for the professions of doctor, nurse, dentist, veterinary surgeon, midwife, pharmacist and architect, for which automatic

recognition of qualifications is based on the coordination of the minimum training conditions, including minimum duration of studies, • The general system for qualifications recognition - system which applies to professions that are not regulated by specific rules of recognition and to certain situations in which the holder of professional qualification does not meet the conditions set out in other recognition systems ,system based on the principle of mutual recognition, without prejudice application of compensatory measures when there are significant differences between the training acquired by the person concerned and the necessary training in the host MS (adaptation period no more than three years or aptitude tests).

In terms of the qualifications level subject to the general system of recognition, the Directive 2005/36/EC distinguish five levels of professional qualifications:  an attestation of competence issued by a Competent Authority in the home Member State, certifying either that the holder has acquired general knowledge corresponding to secondary or high school education, or a training course not forming part of a certificate or diploma, or a specific examination without prior training, or full-time pursuit of the profession for three consecutive years;  certificate attesting to a successful completion of technical or professional or general secondary education, supplemented by professional training;  diploma certifying successful completion of training at post-secondary level duration of at least one year or vocational training which prepares the trainee for an comparable level of responsibilities and functions;  diploma certifying that the holder has successfully completed training of postsecondary or university level of at least three and not more than four years' duration;  diploma certifying that the holder has successfully completed training of postsecondary or university level of at least four years' duration.

The regulated professions in the field of financial audit fall under the qualifications recognition general system, qualification level certifying successful completion of training at post-secondary education, university education of 3-4 years or at least four years.

As in the case of all the other European directives, all the EU MS were obliged to comply with the Directive 2005/36/EC trough its transposition into national legislation. Therefore, the relevant information on the procedure and the rules for the recognition processes valid in each MS are contained in the national legislation through which it was transposed the Directive 2005/36/EC and can be obtained from the National Contact Points (National Contact Points) for qualifications recognition, which all Member States were obliged to establish (they are listed on http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/contact/national_contact_points_en.htm).

In the Directive 2005/36/EC explicitly states: “This Directive applies, concerning the right of establishment and the provision of services, without prejudice to other specific legal provisions regarding the recognition of professional qualifications, such as those existing in the field of transport, insurance intermediaries and statutory auditors”. 1

1

Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications p. 7, (42), at http://www.umftgm.ro/fileadmin/consultare_publica/bibliografie/Directiva_2036_2005_20privind_20recunoaste rea_20calificarilor.pdf

Therefore, in order to analyze the regulation of the professions related to mediation of the insurance products, it was necessary to study the specific directive, Directive 2002/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on insurance mediation as well as the European documents regarding proposals for its revision2 and the main documentary source regarding the current situation of the regulation at EU level for acquiring qualifications and access to labour market in the insurance sector was represented the EIOPA report (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority) with the conclusions of the survey realized during the period March-September 2012 regarding the vocational training standards applied by CA of the EU MS in the insurance sector– „Report on a mapping exercise on Industry Training Standards applied by national competent authorities”, din septembrie 20123.

The Directive 2002/92/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on insurance mediation (IMD1) is the only EU legislation which regulates the point of sale of insurance products so as to ensure the rights of the consumer. It was adopted on 9 December 2002 and had to be transposed by Member States by 15 January 2005. The Directive is a minimum harmonisation instrument containing high level principles and has been implemented in the 27 Member States in substantially different ways4. The need to review IMD1 was already acknowledged during the implementation check carried out by the Commission in 2005-2008.

In the international financial crisis and global efforts to re-regulate the financial markets, in November 2010, the G20 asked the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Financial Stability Board (FSB) and other relevant international organisations to develop common principles in the field of financial services in order to strengthen consumer protection. The draft G20 high level principles on financial consumer protection underline the need for proper regulation and/or supervision of all financial service providers and agents that deal directly with consumers. Acoording to these principles, the consumers should always benefit from comparable standards of consumer protection.

In this context, the revised Directive (IMD2) seeks to improve regulation in the retail insurance market in an efficient manner. It aims at ensuring a level playing field between all participants involved in the selling of insurance products and at strengthening policyholder protection. Among the global objectives of the revision is included also to “ensure sellers' professional qualifications match the complexity of products sold; simplify and approximate the procedure for cross-border entry to insurance markets across the EU.” Pending the adoption of IMD2 however, we quote the following definitions insurance mediation activities and of different insurance mediation professions drawn from IMD15:  insurance mediation means the activities of introducing, proposing or carrying out other work preparatory to the conclusion of contracts of insurance, or of concluding such contracts, or of assisting in the administration and performance of such contracts, in particular in the event of a claim.

2

EC – Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on insurance mediation (recast), Brussels, COM (2012) 360/2, 2012 (0175 (COD) 3 EIOPA - Report on a mapping exercise on Industry Training Standards applied by national competent authorities, EIOPA-BoS-12092, 28 September 2012 – at https://eiopa.europa.eu/fileadmin/tx_dam/files/ publications/reports/EIOPA-BoS-12092_Report_on_mapping_exercise_on_Industry_Training_Standards_ applied_by_NCAs.pdf 4 Explanatory Memorandum for revision of the Directive 2002/92/CE, p.1 , pct.1, at http://eurlex.europa.eu/ LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2012:0360:FIN:RO:DOC 5 The Directive 2002/92/EC of the European Parliament and the Council on insurance mediation adopted on 9 December 2002 http://www.csa-isc.ro/files/directive/2002_92.pdf

 reinsurance mediation means the activities of introducing, proposing or carrying out other work preparatory to the conclusion of contracts of reinsurance, or of concluding such contracts, or of assisting in the administration and performance of such contracts, in particular in the event of a claim.  insurance intermediary means any natural or legal person who, for remuneration, takes up or pursues insurance mediation;  reinsurance intermediary means any natural or legal person who, for remuneration, takes up or pursues reinsurance mediation;  tied insurance intermediary means any person who carries on the activity of insurance mediation for and on behalf of one or more insurance undertakings in the case of insurance products which are not in competition but does not collect premiums or amounts intended for the customer and who acts under the full responsibility of those insurance undertakings for the products which concern them respectively.  The insurance products can be distributed by various types of persons or institutions, such as agents, brokers and "bank assurance" operators; equality of treatment between operators and customer protection requires that all these persons or institutions be covered by this Directive.

As occupations of insurance intermediaries in the International Standard Classification of Occupations developed by the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2008, ISCO-08, based on which all EU MS were forced to revise national classifications of occupations since 2011 there is the basic group 3321 Insurance Agents / Insurance Representatives / agents d'assurances (“Insurance representatives advise on insurance and sell life, accident, automobile, liability, endowment, fire, marine and other types of insurance to new and established clients.”). In this group, each country enroll in national classification the occupations / professions available on its labor market.

Romania currently has registered in base group 3321 of the Classification of Occupations in Romania (COR) two professions: insurance agent, COR code 332101, insurance broker, COR code 332 102.

In the Annex to its report6, EIOPA conducted a review of the provisions of the European legislation related to knowledge and qualifications required for practicing insurance mediation professions. Thus, apart from the provisions of Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of qualifications, from the insurance and reinsurance sector specific legislation, there are listed the following provisions:  in IMD1 (Directive 2002/92/CE) - The coordination of national provisions on professional requirements and registration of persons taking up and pursuing the activity of insurance mediation can therefore contribute both to the completion of the single market for financial services and to the enhancement of customer protection in this field; the insurance and reinsurance intermediaries should be registered with the competent authority of the Member State where they have their residence or their head office, provided that they meet strict professional requirements in relation to their competence, good repute, professional indemnity cover and financial capacity; they possess appropriate knowledge and ability, as determined by the home Member State of the intermediary and 6

EIOPA - Report on a mapping exercise on Industry Training Standards applied by national competent authorities, EIOPA-

BoS-12092, 28 September 2012, pag.19 - 30

these professional requirement are permanently fulfilled; the insurance and reinsurance intermediaries should be registered with the competent authority of the Member State, including tied ones, only if that they meet professional requirements; Member States shall ensure that insurance intermediaries— including tied ones — and reinsurance intermediaries are removed from the register if they cease to fulfil the professional requirements; Member States provide for appropriate sanctions in the event of an insurance or reinsurance intermediary's failure to comply with national provisions  in IMD2 (the proposal of revision of IMD1) It is important to guarantee a high level of professionalism and competence among insurance and reinsurance intermediaries and the employees of direct insurers who are involved in activities preparatory to, during and after the sales of insurance policies and therefore, their professional knowledge o match the level of complexity of these activities and to be ensured continuous education; in order to enhance cross border activities, it should be introduced principles regulating mutual recognition of intermediaries' knowledge and abilities; a national qualification corresponding to the level 3 under the European Qualification Framework should be accepted by a host member state as demonstrating that an insurance or reinsurance intermediary meets the requirements of knowledge and ability which are a condition of registration in accordance with the provisions of IMD2 in the host MS In addition to the abovementioned, EIOPA performs various studies, surveys, comparative analyzes on how MS have transposed all these provisions from european legislation, as it prepares for additional duties in this field proposed by the EC trough IMD2, namely, that in the context of delegated acts, it should:  specify what is meant by the phrase” the notion of adequate knowledge and ability” of the insurance and reinsurance intermediary  specify appropriate criteria for determining the level of professional qualifications, experiences and competences required for carrying on insurance mediation;  specify the steps that insurance intermediaries and insurance undertakings might reasonably be expected to take to update their knowledge and ability through continuing professional development in order to maintain an adequate level of performance In the context it is mentioned that EIOPA has responsibilities in the development of training standards in the insurance, provided right in its founding Regulation7: “to take a leading role in promoting transparency, simplicity and fairness in the market for consumer financial products or services across the internal market, including by…..developing training standards for the industry” In terms of Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications, the situation varies significantly from one MS to another. In some MS, insurance mediation

7

Regulation (EU) no. 1094/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 November 2010 establishing a

European Supervisory Authority (European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, art.9(1)(c)

professions are not listed as regulated professions at national level (Germany8, Italy9, Romania10, Spain11), in other MS they appear on the list of regulated professions as a generic category that includes all financial intermediation professions (Netherlands), and other MS have included these professions among the regulated professions and registered them in IMI the electronic platform for the exchange of information between EU MS AC, SEE, Helvetic Federation and towards the mutual recognition of professional qualifications. Therefore, we can say that there are quite a few EU MS who have introduced the principles of mutual recognition of qualifications for the insurance sector and have entered the insurance intermediation regulated professions in the IMI system.

In Table 1.1 is given the situation of regulated professions that have been submitted by 7 MS to the CE database for the generic category “insurance broker�, the only currently existing generic category in the IMI system for the insurance intermediaries extracted by the author from all the generic categories listed above, in which 25 MS of EEA and Swiss Confederation registered 39 professions that was reserved primarily for the financial audit activity. Therefore, as can be seen, MS enrolled both professions as agents and brokers in this generic category and the " insurance practitioner" profession.

8

The list of regulated professions in germany, at

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/regprof/index.cfm?action=regprofs&id_country=3&quid=1&mode=asc& maxRows=*#top 9

The list of regulated professions in Italy, at

http://www.politichecomunitarie.it/attivita/17592/riconoscimento-delle-qualifiche-professionali-guida-allutente 10

The list of regulated professions in Romania, at

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/regprof/index.cfm?action=regprofs&id_country=27&quid=1&mode=asc& maxRows=*#top 11

The list of regulated professions in Spain, at

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/regprof/index.cfm?action=regprofs&id_country=5&quid=1&mode=asc& maxRows=*#top

Table 1.1 The regulated professions in the generic category of insurance broker in the IMI system MS

Name of the profession in the MS / Romanian translation

Name of CA

AUSTRIA

Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft, Familie Versicherungsvermittlung/ broker und Jugend / în asigurări(Insurance Broker) Federal Ministry for Economics, Family and Youth www.bmwa.gv.at

CZECH REPUBLIC

Pojišťovací agent/ agent de asigurare (Insurance Agent)

Česká národní banka/ Czech National Bank www.cnb.cz

DENMARK

Forsikringsformidler/ broker în asigurări ((Insurance Broker))

Finanstilsynet/ Danish Financial Supervisory Authority/ www.finanstilsynet.dk

FRANCE

MALTA

Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de Agent général d'assurance/ agent résolution/ Prudential Control and general de asigurare (General Resolution Authority Insurance Agent) http://www.acpr.banquefrance.fr/lacpr.html Insurance sub-agent / Registered insurance broker/sub-agent de asigurare(Insurance Sub-agent)/ Association of Insurance Brokers/ broker în asigurări înregistrat(Registered Insurance Broker)

UNITED KINGDOM

Chartered Insurance Broker/ broker în asigurări certificat

Chartered Insurance Institute/ www.cii.co.uk

HUNGARY

Chartered insurance practitioner/ Pénzügyminisztérium/ Ministry of Finance practician în asigurări certificat

Qualification level Automatic recognition of qualifications attested by professional experience Annex IV / undefined level of qualification Automatic recognition of qualifications attested by professional experience Annex IV / undefined level of qualification General System – primary aplication / PS3 - Post-secondary diploma (34years) , Article 11 d General System – primary aplication / PS3 - Post-secondary diploma (34years) , Article 11 d General System – primary aplication / PS3 - Post-secondary diploma (34years) , Article 11 d General System – primary aplication / PS3 - Post-secondary diploma (34years) , Article 11 d General System – primary or secundary aplication(undefined) / DSE- Post-secondary diploma, incl. Annex II (ex.92/51, Annex C,D), Art.11 c

Source: done by the author with information from the EU database for regulated professions, the “Insurance broker” generic cathegory, at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications /regprof/index.cfm?action=profession&id_profession=5210 (at 30.04.2013)

In Romania, the two professions are currently regulated by the Financial Supervisory Authority - FSA, the authority that took over the prerogatives of the three separate supervisory authorities - Insurance Supervisory Commission (CSA), the National Securities Commission (CNVM) and the of the Private Pension System Supervision Commission (PPSSC).

CSA has regulated from 2010, through a series of successive orders (the orders 6 and 7 from 2010, the orders 10 and 11 from 2011, the orders 8 and 9 from 2012), the access to practice in the case of the insurance intermediaries generic category, in which fall, according to CSA Order nr.9/2012 amended and supplemented, for the implementation of the Norms regarding the professional qualifications and training of insurance intermediaries: natural persons insurance agents, sub-agents, natural persons exercising the bancassurance activity, insurance / reinsurance brokers, brokerage assistant natural persons; own personnel involved in

insurance mediation of brokerage assistants legal entities; own personal of insurance and / reassurance broker, which has as main attribution the mediation of insurance and / or reinsurance contracts; managers of insurance agents legal entities, of the bancassurance activity, persons designated to manage insurance mediation activity to the brokerage assistants legal persons, managers of the brokerage assistants - legal entities with sole object , executive managers of insurance and / or reinsurance brokers.

In Austria, the Directive 2002/92/EC has been transposed into national legislation by the amendment in 2005, of the Gewerbeordnung - GewO (Law on the trade, crafts and industry) and of the Maklergesetz (Law on brokers / agents). The CA for the supervision of insurance intermediaries, except banks, is Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft, Familie und Jugend BMWFJ (Federal Ministry for Economy, Family and Youth) trough Bezirksverwaltungsbehörde (its administrative authorities at local level). The Banks can carry out mediation of insurance products only with the approval of the CA on supervision of financial markets, Finanzmarktaufsichtsbehörde - FMA (Austrian Financial Market Authority). This, based on Versicherungsaufsichtsgesetz - VAG (Law on the Insurance Supervision), supervise inclusively the conformity with the information requirements established for intermediaries, through on-site inspections.

The Czech Republic has transposed the Directive 2002/92/EC by Act No. 38/2004 Coll. of the Czech Republic on Insurance Intermediaries and Independent Loss Adjusters on (Law 38/2004 on insurance intermediaries and independent loss adjusters) which came into force on 1 January 2005. The supervision CA of the insurance industry is Česká národní banka (Czech National Bank), but the administration of Registry of insurance intermediaries and loss adjusters is under the Ministry of Finance's responsibility.

In Denmark, the Directive 2002/92/EC has been transposed into national legislation trough Bekendtgørelse af lov om forsikringsformidling (Insurance mediation law no. 930 of 18 September 2008) and the formation of intermediates is regulated by the Administrative Order no. 825 of 3 July 2007 on education for insurance brokers. The CA for all financial markets is Finanstilsynet (Danish Financial Supervisory Authority - DFSA / Danish Financial Supervisory Authority).

In Germany, similar to Austria, the Directive 2002/92/EC has been transposed into national legislation by the amendment of Gewerbeordnung - GewO (Law on the trade, crafts and industry) and of the Versicherungsvermittlerverordnung - VersVermV (Act on Insurance Mediation). The Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie - BMWi (Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology) is the CA, but it has delegated its responsibilities to the Deutsche Industrie-und Handelskammertag - DIHK (Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce). Thus, the implementation of Directive 2002/92/EC is ensured by Industrie-und Handelskammern - IHKs (chambers of industry and commerce of lands / federal states of Germany) which are responsible for the registration, licensing and direct supervision of insurance intermediaries.

According to the Versicherungsaufsichtsgesetz - VAG (Insurance Supervision Law on the), BaFin - Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority) is responsible for micro-prudential supervision of financial banking, insurance and securities service providers (entities on the banking market, insurance market and capital market). In this capacity, BaFin supervise the activity of employees insurance companies which have responsibilities in mediation of the insurance products.

Italy is a MS in which it has to be pursued the process of possible revision of national legislation regulating and supervising the insurance market (Decreto Legislativo 7 settembre 2005, n.209 – Codice delle assigurazioni private / Legislative Decree of September 7, 2005, No. 209 - Code of private insurance), as from 1 January 2013 it has been created a new supervisory authority, Instituto per la Vigilanza Sulla Assigurazioni - IVASS (Institute for insurance Supervision), which took over all the duties of the former authorities - Instituto per la Vigilanza Sulla's private Assigurazioni di Interesse Collettivo (ISVAP), but whose chairman is the Director General of the Bank of Italy, whose status has been approved by the central bank of Italy.

Also in the UK, from April 1, 2013, the Financial Services Authority Financial Services Authority) has been replaced by the Financial Conduct Authority - FCA (Financial Conduct Authority) and the Prudential Regulation Authority - PRA (Prudential Supervisory Authority) along with the central bank - Bank of England. Directive 2002/92/EC has been transposed into national law by the amendment of Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Financial Services and Markets Act The 2000) trough Order no. 1676 of 2003 (Statutory Instrument 2003 No. 1676).

In the Netherlands, the field of financial service, the list of regulated professions12 does not include specific professions, but two broad categories of occupational areas, we could say: werknemer van een financiële dienstverlener die zich bezighoudt met het verlenen van financiële diensten aan consumenten/employee of a financial services provider who grants financial services to consumers and şi feitelijk leidinggevende van een financiële dienstverlener die zich bezighoudt met het verlenen van financiële diensten aan consumenten/de facto manager of a financial services provider who grants financial services to consumers. Therefore, the Netherlands does not have registered in the IMI system any of the specific professions of the financial services sector - capital market broker, loan broker, insurance broker, financial consultant, investment consultant, etc.. - although all of these professions fall into the first category of the regulated professions list.

College Deskundigheid Financiële Dienstverlening - CDFD (Financial Services Competences College / Council) is the CA for the category of professions representing employees, and Ministerie van Financiën (Ministry of Finance) is the CA for managers. The two categories include all the specific professions on all financial markets because The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets - AFM (The Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets) supervises and regulates, together with De Nederlandsche Bank - DNB (Dutch Central Bank), all financial - banking, non-banking, equity, insurance and private pensions markets - authorizing access of financial service providers in all these markets.

The regulation of the two categories of professions in the financial services sector is foreseen in the Financial Supervision Act - FSA (Financial Supervision Act), which entered into force on 1 January 2007. Based on this law, the institutions / companies that operate on financial markets (banks, non-banking financial institutions, insurance companies / reinsurance, investment companies, investment funds, pension funds, etc..) may be authorized only if all employees of the basic / specific activity of financial services provision have passed the FSA exam and follow the training / upgrading knowledge programs every 18 months for companies with less than 50 employees in such positions / functions or only if all managers 12

The list of regulated professions in the Netherlands – at

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/regprof/index.cfm

have passed the FSA exam and follow the training programs every 18 months for companies with over 50 employees in position / functions specific to core business.

CDFD, as the CA for employees of financial service providers, has been established as a government institution by royal decree in 2006 and is coordinated by the Ministry of Finance13. It's basically a council composed of experts from the financial services sector, led by a president who is elected from outside the financial system, and its mission is to provide legal advice and supervision of mandatory continuing vocational training of employees in the financial services sector. The Council is working with authorized mandatory training providers and the examination / assessment authorized institutions, which are necessarily separate entities of training providers.

Similar to the situation until this year in Romania, in Spain14 the financial markets are supervised by separate authorities, depending on market: Banco de España (Bank of Spain) for the banking sector, Comisión Nacional del Mercado de Valores for the capital market and the Dirección General de Seguros y Fondos de Pensiones - DGSFP (Directorate General of insurance and pension Funds) for insurance and private pensions market. The main legislation in the field of insurance consists of: Texto Refundido Ley de Odenación y Supervisión de los Seguros Privados - TRLOSSP (Law on the organization and supervision of private insurances), Ley de Mediación de los Seguros Privados - LMSP (Law on Private Insurance Mediation), Ley de Contrato de Seguro - LCS (Law on the insurances contract) and the Reglamento de Ordenación y Supervisión de los Seguros Privados -ROSSP (the Code of organisation and supervision of private insurances).

According to TRLOSSP, The Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MEC) is the agency empowered to supervise insurance activities, with the exception of mutual insurers that operate solely within an Autonomous Community where the Autonomous Community has agreed to assume their supervision. DGSFP is practically a department within the MEC and that is why it is funded by State budget, and The Director General of the DGSFP is directly appointed by the Minister of Economy. In this context, DGSFP does not levy any fees on industry participants, except a registration fee on intermediaries, and this fees as well as administrative fines collected are passed over to the Treasury

2. COMPETENCES CERTIFICATION PROCEDURES APPLIED BY THE CA FOR THE INSURANCE AGENT AND INSURANCE BROKER PROFESIONS A synthetic comparative analysis of the requirements for knowledge and aptitudes / abilities for insurance intermediaries authorization and the requirements for their CPD / continuous professional development in the analyzed EU MS is presented in Table below.

Table 2.1

13

Informations obtained in November 2012, at the meeting

with Madame Risha Schwalbe

at Financial Services

Competences College / Council – CDFD, during the study visit in the Netherlands 14

Informations obtained from IMF Country Report no.12/139 - Spain: IAIS Insurance Core Principles: Detailed Assessment

of Observance, June 2012, at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2012/cr12139.pdf

The situation of qualifications required for practicing the professions of insurance agent and insurance broker in the analyzed EU MS SM

Initial training requirements

Evaluation / examination of

CPD / continuous

Sanctions for failure to

the knowledge and aptitudes

professional

comply with the requirements

/ abilities

development

of knowledge and aptitudes / abilities and CVT

Romania

Austria

Czech Republic

Denmark

Differentiated requirements for insurance brokers compared to insurance agents.

Graduating professional training programs in the insurance field

35 hours for executive managers of insurance Examination by the IMA on brokers and 20 hours for completion of professional training programs from one of intermediaries authorized providers of CSA natural persons mandatory and registration in the intermediaries register based on every 2 years the exam graduation certificate for executives and managers and every 3 years for other intermediaries

Denial of registration for the first time in the intermediaries register if it does not pass the qualification exam.

It is provided a period of max. 6 months, from the communication date of the first result for successful reexamination (max. 2 reexamination).

Insurance and / or reinsurance companies, insurance and / or reinsurance brokers, legal entities insurance agents are required to removed from the intermediaries register the people who do not permanently meet the professional requirements.

Qualifications obtained in the dual Examination and registration system of education, including with CA apprenticeship (3 years for brokers) and no formal CPD (Federal Ministry for a period of practice and training (3 Economy, Family and Youth requirement, but years for brokers) that ends with an manages the central register from 2012 is Denial of registration if it does exam. not pass the initial exam of of insurance intermediaries, debated the Employees of legal entities brokers centralizing the data from the application of a must demonstrate that they have local authorities, which obligatory participated in internal courses records those who have (tutorials) regarding the services they passed the exam) promote.

Examination by the a special YES, updating with Denial of registration if it does The law provides for 3 levels of committee (for those who have legislative changes not pass the initial exam qualification: not specialized initial training) In the case of failure of the - Basic level of professional commitment of CVT, is competences for tied and subordinates and registration in the register managed by the Ministry of given a deadline by which intermediates and independent loss Finance the CVT must be done or adjusters; the activity of the - Medium level of professional intermediary concerned is competence for insurance agents; suspended until the updating - high / higher level of professional of knowledge and aptitudes competences for insurance brokers. / abilities The level of qualification can also be proved by: - Certificate of graduation from a university or a to high school with insurance specialization program + min.

2 years practical experience in the insurance sector; - Min. 2 years practical experience in the insurance sector + exam with a special committee established by the Ministry of Finance no formal CPD Denial of registration if it does Post-secondary studies (3-4 years) and Ca persoane fizice, numai requirement not pass the initial exam , in profesional experience. brokerii au obligaţia să se case of brokers Requirements differentiated between înregistreze în registrul brokers and agents. administrat de DFSA, pe baza unei examinări.

Agenţii sunt înregistraţi de către societăţile de asigurare în registrul Asociaţiei Asiguratorilor

Germany

Qualifications obtained in the dual system of education (in which the chambers of commerce are responsible for practical training/ formation of aptitudes / abilities) Higher requirements for brokers and agents than for other categories of intermediaries

Examination (in accordance with section 34 of the GewO) and registration by land chambers of commerce (IHK) for brokers, agents (excluding tied agents) and insurance consultants

no formal CPD requirement

Examination by the CA (IVASS) at the registration of brokers and agents and by insurance companies for subagents and collaborators

CVT mandatory of 30 hours / year and in the case of launching new products on the market and / or amending legislation.

50% of CVT can be e-learning

Denial of registration if it does not pass the initial exam

Denial of registration if it does not pass the initial exam IVASS if it finds, by companies inspections at or by verification of documents, that a sub-agent do not possess the Certificate declared at Registration, it is radiated from the register and lodges a complaint of misrepresentation to public competent authorities Evaluation of the agents is CVT mandatory Denial of registration if it United Kingdom Differentiated requirements: - investment insurances made by the employers trough 35 hours / year does not pass the initial exam - Insurance without an investment inspections carried out to only for In case of non-compliance component. companies by the CA intermediates of with conformity obligations The law makes no distinction between investment and probity ("fitness & agents and brokers.

Insurance probity") public admonition / censure, fine or even imprisonment, as appropriate.

Denial of registration if it does Netherlands secondary superior vocational training FSA Exam by professional CVT mandatory (2-4 years) or adequate work association accredited by every 18 months in not pass the initial exam experience CDFD as examiners, order to update the + organizations which are knowledge of compulsory training program (FSA) diferent from the FSA specific legislation of 120 hours: basic knowledge of the training providers and strengthening financial markets + specific consumer knowledge in product categories: confidence - Life insurance; - Insurance against damage; authorized insurance broker; - Authorized damage insurer.

In 2014 it is intended the transition to qualification training based on occupational standards, qualifications level 3 CEC / EQF. There are no requirements differentiated between agents and brokers.

YES, CVT In the case they do not Spain Grupa C (50 ore formare): personal de Differential treatment at the examination (aptitude test mandatory at least comply the CVT requirements suport al agenţilor şi brokerilor şi held by independent 60 hours every , they are suspended for a brokeri de reasigurări neimplicaţi în institutions approved by the three years period of up to 10 years or finalizarea vânzărilor DGSFP) between tied agents disqualified from a leadership and multi-tied agents position.

Differentiated training requirements (Insurance and Finance) training provided by providers approved by DGSFP (who approves also the training programs) on three categories of intermediaries / employees of intermediaries legal entities: Group A (500 hours training) mediation company managers, multitied agents and bancassurance technical directors; Group B (200 hours training) exclusive agents, exclusive operators and bancassurance technical directors, intermediaries employees performing activities related to consulting, concluding and progress of the insurance contracts; Italy

Requirements differentiated by categories of intermediaries: - Agents and brokers - Sub-agents and collaborators

Group C (50 hours training) support staff of agents and brokers and reinsurance brokers not involved in the completion of sales

Source: done by the author with information from EIOPA, Report on a mapping exercise on Industry Training Standards applied by national competent authorities 28 September 2012 at information obtained from CDFD during the study visit in the Netherlands and the national legislation of the analyzed MS A special case in what concerns the qualifications in the insurance field is constituted by the UK due to the institution of training and qualifications providing, Chartered Insurance Institute - CII (Chartered Insurance Institute), an professional body for the professions of the financial services market with international reputation, having over 100,000 members from over 150 countries, which accept voluntary the standards of integrity, of technical and professional competence and comply with the code of professional ethics imposed by CII. Therefore, we consider it worthwhile to present below the insurance qualifications framework developed by CII, insurance qualifications recognized and recorded in the National Qualifications Framework in England by the Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation – Ofqual (Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation).

CII insurance qualifications framework Fellowship (Designation: FCII) unit credit rating

50 credits

30 credits

MSc in Insurance and Risk Management Advanced Diploma in Insurance (Designation: ACII)

(991) London market insurance specialization (530) Economics and business (820) Advanced claims (960) Advanced underwriting

30 credits

(590) Principles of Takaful (930) Advanced insurance broking

(655) Risk management (945) Marketing insurance products and services

(990) Insurance corporate management

Diploma in Insurance (Designations: Dip CII, Dip CII (Claims)) NEW (P61) Life, NEW (P91) Aviation and critical illness and (P62) Life, critical space disability illness insurance underwriting and disability claims

(P97) Reinsurance

(P98) Marine hull and associated liabilities

25 credits

(P05) Insurance law COMPULSORY UNIT** (P90) Cargo and goods in transit insurances

(P94) Motor insurance 20 credits

(P21) Commercial insurance contract wording

NEW (P63) Long term insurance Business* (P92) Insurance business and finance COMPULSORY UNIT** (P96) Liability insurances (P80) Underwriting Practice

NEW (P64) Private medical insurance practice* (P93) Commercial property and business interruption

(P81) Insurance broking Practice

(P86) Personal (P85) Claims practice insurances Certificate in Insurance (Designations: Cert CII/Cert CII (Claims)/Cert CII (London Market)/ Cert CII (Customer Service)/Cert CII (Health and Protection)) 15 credits (IF1) Insurance, legal (IF2) General (IF3) Insurance and insurance underwriting regulatory business process COMPULSORY UNIT*** (IF5) Motor (IF6) Household (IF4) Insurance insurance insurance claims products products handling process (IF7) Healthcare insurance products (LM2) London market insurance principles and practices 10 credits (LM1) London market insurance essentials Award for the Foundation Insurance Test 6 credits

(IF8) Packaged commercial insurances

(IF9) Customer service in Insurance

(FIT) Foundation Insurance Test

Key: *These units will be examined for the first time in April 2013, with study material becoming available in December 2012 ** To satisfy the Diploma and Advanced Diploma compulsory unit requirements you can either pass units P92 and P05 or alternatively 530 and P05 *** To satisfy the Certificate compulsory unit requirements you can either pass unit IF1 or

alternatively the Award in London Market Insurance (achieved by completing units LM1 and LM2)

CII offers CVT through the ASSESS (www.cii.co.uk/elearning ) and for insurance brokers, CII Broker Academy offers both qualification programs and continuous professional development programs (www.cii.co.uk/brokeracademy ).

3. QUALIFICATIONS RECOGNITION PROCESSES ACQUIRED IN OTHER EU MS IN ORDER TO PRACTICE FOR THE INSURANCE AGENT AND INSURANCE BROKER PROFESSIONS

The IMI system statistics realized based on data on the professionals mobility on the two modalities of performance (through establishment / the exercise with permanent character of their profession in another Member of the EU, EEA and Switzerland, or trough temporary performance) and for each generic profession category individually, in accordance with the 842 generic categories registered in the database until now, is relevant for the insurance broker, without making distinction between agents and brokers, as shown in Chapter 1. On the other hand, the statistics do not fully reflect the process of recognition of qualifications of insurance agents and insurance brokers, as there are SM which have provisions related to the recognition of these qualifications in the specific legislation, but the CA for these professions were not enrolled in IMI and therefore, recognition decisions are not recorded in the IMI database. Making these remarks, we will present below the statistics extracted from the IMI system for the generic category Insurance broker (insurance broker / insurance agent).

The actual situation of the 302 decisions taken throughout the reporting period in the IMI system for the professions of insurance mediation is presented in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1 Statistics of decisions on qualifications recognition acquired in other EU MS, EEA and Swiss Confederation for insurance mediation professions listed in the Insurance broker generic category (1997/8 - 2012)

Host Country:

Qualification Country No. of positive No. of negative

regulated professions

of Origin

decisions

decisions

(2 countries which have received recognition

No. of

Total decisions

neutral decisions

requests for establishment/permanent provision) Austria:

Germany

3

0

0

3

Versicherungsvermittlung

Luxembourg

1

0

0

1

(5 requests from 3 SM, all on the automatic

United Kingdom

1

0

0

1

United Kingdom:

Austria

1

0

0

1

Chartered Insurance Broker

Cyprus

4

0

0

4

(84 applications from eight EU MS and Switzerland, Denmark

2

0

0

2

all with positive decisions on overall automatic system Switzerland

2

0

0

2

recognition of professional experience)

without compensatory measures)

France Germany

2

0

0

2

3

0

0

3

Ireland

61

0

0

61

Latvia

1

0

0

1

Malta

8

0

0

8

United Kingdom:

Cyprus

1

0

0

1

Chartered Insurance Practitioner

Switzerland

1

0

0

1

(213 requests from eight EU MS and Switzerland)

France

3

0

0

3

Germany

7

0

2

9

Greece

3

0

0

3

Ireland

175

0

0

175

Italy

2

0

0

2

Luxemburg

1

0

0

1

17

0

0

17

1

0

0

1

300

0

2

302

Malta Netherlands TOTAL:

13 countries of origin

2 host MS

Source: made by the author with the data from the IMI system, the situation of decisions for permanent provision, from insurance broker generic category at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/regprof/index.cfm?action=profession&id_ profession=2100&tab=countries&quid=2&mode=asc&maxRows=*#top (on 30.04.2013)

According to EIOPA, there are still very little practical experience in the recognition of qualifications of insurance intermediaries, actually confirmed by the EU statistics presented in the table above, if we consider that only two MS have registered in the system the reception of recognition requests, and out of the 297 applications for which the UK has adopted decisions to grant the British protected titles of chartered insurance broker and chartered insurance practitioner, 236 applicants are Irish neighbours, and the 25 applicants and respectively 5 applicants are from the former British colonies Malta and Cyprus.

In Graph 3.1 it can be observed that out of 302 decisions of recognition registered so far in the IMI system for insurance agents and insurance brokers, the overwhelming majority (300 decisions) consists of positive decisions (applicants received recognition of qualification and the right to practice the profession concerned), only 2 decisions (taken by the UK for the requests of two German nationals for chartered insurance practitioner qualification recognition) were neutral (applications are still pending), and there were no negative decision (rejection of the application for the recognition of qualifications acquired in another MS).

Graph 3.1 - Structure by type of decision for recognition of qualifications in the category Insurance broker during 1997 / 8-2012

0,66%

Dec iz ii decisions poz itive Positive Neutral Dec iz iidecisions neutre

99,34%

Graph 3.2 - Structure by host countries of the decisions qualifications recognition registered in the category Insurance broker in 1997 / 8-2012

2%

Marea B ritanie United Kingdom A us tria

Austria

98%

Graph 3.3 - Structure by countries of origin of the requests for the qualifications recognition registered in the category Insurance broker in 1997 / 8-2012

2%

0,66% 0,33% 1% 2% 1%

5% 8%

78%

Irlanda Ireland Malta Malta G ermania Germany C ipru Cyprus F ranta France G rec ia Greece E lvetia Switzerland Italia Italy Danemarc a Denmark L ux emburg Luxembourg MareaKingdom B ritanie United A us tria Austria O landa Nederland

Source: all three charts are based on the data processed by the author from the EC database with the regulated professions for the Insurance broker generic category, listed in Table 3.1 (on 30.04.2013) In the top of professions in terms of the number of decisions on recognition of qualifications acquired in another MS than that of the establishment / permanent practice, the professions included in the generic category of "insurance broker" are placed as follows: • the 88th place for the whole period (1997/8 - 2012), with 302 decisions; • the 78th place for the period 2005 / 6-2012, with 258 decisions; • the 93 place for the period 2010-2012, 62 decisions.

For comparison, we mention that the first position is occupied by the generic category "doctor of medicine" (physicians) with 50 780 decisions adopted during 1997/8 – 2012, from which 49 155 decisions in the period 2005 / 6-2012 and for the period 2010 - 2012, on the first place has passed the generic category "nurse" (nurses), with 22 301 decisions.

In the case of temporary provision of insurance services - Freedom of Services - FOS (freedom to provide services), there are no declarations recorded in the IMI database. At EU level, cross-border insurance services, however, are regulated, meaning the notification obligation of the intent to provide them, known as the "notification procedure" (notification procedure) or "European Passport" (European passport), notification which must made by the provider to the CA of the host MS through the CA of the home MS. For the establishment / permanent provision of insurance activity - Freedom of Establishment - FOE (freedom of establishment), as shown in Table 1.1 of Chapter 1 of this guide, the three systems of recognition set out in Directive 2005/36 / EC on the recognition of professional qualifications, the professions registered by the EU MS within the Insurance broker general category are covered by either the general system of qualifications recognition (Denmark, France, Malta, UK, Hungary) either of the system of automatic recognition of qualifications

attested by professional experience in certain industrial, craft and commercial activities (Austria, Czech Republic).

In Romania, the insurance professions are not included in the Law 200/2004 for transposition of Directive 2005/36/EC on recognition of professional qualifications. Law 32/2000 on insurance and reinsurance in Romania, as amended and supplemented, contains provisions regarding the freedom of establishment of EEA insurers and intermediaries in Romania and of the Romanian insurers in other EEA MS. The regulation of the insurance intermediary professions occurred after the last amendments and supplements of the Law 32/2000. In the Order of CSA. No.9/2012 are specified the conditions to access the practice of intermediation activity - following the qualification programs authorized by CSA finalized with graduation exam. In the EIOPA report it is mentioned that “In Romania, the insurance supervisor recognises only training certificates issued by professional associations authorised in Romania and graduation certificates obtained in Romania.� 15.

In Austria, where the system of qualifications recognition, including those of the insurance sector, acquired in other the EU MS, EEA and Swiss Confederation is based on Directive 2005/36/EC, BMWFJ (Federal Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth) is the CA coordinating at national and international level and, also, the CA for declaring of cross-border services (temporary or occasional) in commercial activities (regulated by the Law on trade, crafts and industry - GewO), but the CA for the processes of qualifications recognition certified by professional experience in certain industrial, craft and trade activities (including also the insurance broker) for establishing / permanent performance are the regional government (Landeshauptmann), which can record the intermediaries from other SM EEA or Switzerland on the basis of evidence that they are registered in the register of insurance intermediaries in the respective country (made by notification to the CA of home MS).

In the Czech Republic, the Law 38/2004 on insurance intermediaries and independent loss assessors provides that, upon receipt of a notification from the CA from another MS concerning an insurance intermediary intention of establishment in the Czech Republic, the Ministry of Finance is required to inform the intermediary concerned about the general conditions of the provision of intermediation services of insurance products in the Czech Republic and to record him in the Czech register of insurance intermediaries within one month from the date of receipt from CA in the home MS the identification data and confirmation that it is recorded in the register of insurance intermediaries of the home MS. In the case of the general system for the of qualifications recognition, the recognition is not automatic, but it requires a comparison between the training provided in the two states - that in which the applicant has acquired the qualification (home country) and in which it wants to practice permanently (host country), and the possibility, in case of "substantial differences", of the application of the compensatory measures (aptitude test or adaptation period - Article 23 of the Directive).

For the general system of recognition, the application for recognition is submitted to the CA of the host MS. This application must be accompanied by a series of documents and certificates listed in Annex VII to Directive 2005/36/EC. The documents that can be requested when submitting an application for recognition are: 15

EIOPA - Report on a mapping exercise on Industry Training Standards applied by national competent authorities, 28

September 2012, p. 13

• proof of nationality; • evidence of establishment in another MS of the EU, EEA or Swiss Confederation; • documents regarding professional qualification, competences and practical experience: certificate of competence or evidence of formal qualification issued by the CA of the origin MS; • other documents, if they are required also to financial auditors from the host MS - evidence of reputation, solvency, proof that the applicant is medically fit, financial status, professional insurance.

The CA from the host MS may request copies and translations authenticated by a notary for the most important documents, but not for standardized documents (e.g. passport, identity card). Also, there can not be required original documents, only copies. In the case when the applicant can not provide all the requested information, CA of the host country should try to obtain them from the CA of the origin MS trough the IMI system.

As recognition procedure, the CA of the host MS shall, within one month, to confirm the receipt of the file and to draw attention to any missing documents, if applicable. The CA deadline to grant recognition or decide to apply an aptitude test is 4 months. Any rejection must be substantiated and the rejection or failing to take a decision within the time limit mentioned above could be challenged before the national courts.

The aptitude test can be applied provided that the CA of the host MS, based on the documents received determines the differences between the two qualifications which must be covered by compensatory measures. In setting the aptitude test subjects, the CA of the host MS should consider not only the knowledge acquired by the applicant in the formal qualifications, but also those that the person has acquired in informal and non-formal as well as practical experience . In the vision of EC, the CA of the host MS should hold at least two sessions of aptitude tests per year. In order to achieve the recognition and organize the aptitude test, the CA may charge a fee provided that it does not exceed the costs involved and is not discriminatory against its own nationals placed in similar situations. Once obtained the qualification recognition, the applicant can practice the profession in the same conditions as those acquired the qualification in the host MS, the professional regulations of the host MS being applicable.

In Denmark, the request for qualification recognition together with the all documentation must be submitted to Finanstilsynet (Danish Financial Supervisory Authority), but it appeals to Styrelsen for Universiteter og Internationalisering (Danish Agency for Universities and Internationalisation - the CA in Denmark for the transposition and implementation of Directive 2005 / 36/CE on the qualification recognition) in order to carry out comparisons between qualification acquired by the applicant in the home SM and the qualifications required in Denmark, in order to decide whether it will be subject to an aptitude test / a probationary period or not.

Although, of the 9 EU MS analyzed in this guide, only 4 have registered the insurance intermediary regulated professions in the IMI system, pursuant to Directive 2005/36/EC on recognition of professional qualifications (Austria and the Czech Republic adopting the qualifications recognition system certified by professional experience in certain industrial craft and commercial activities, and Denmark and the United Kingdom adopting the general system of recognition of qualifications), we can consider that the other 5 MS automatically accepted the adoption of general system for recognition giventhe fact that the CA countries

are signatories to the Luxembourg Protocol on cooperation of the EU MS CA in the implementation of Directive 2002/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 December 2002 on insurance mediation.

In paragraph 2.2.2. of the Protocol16 - Mutual Recognition – is stipulated that Even if there is no specific mutual recognition clause in the Directive 2002/92/CE, the General system serves as "lex specialis" under the following conditions and circumstances: natural persons fully qualified as insurance intermediaries in a EU Member State wishing to take up the same profession in another EU Member State on the basis of permanent establishment, without keeping their original licence, should also be able to benefit from Title III, Chapter I of Directive 2005/36/EC (which regulates the general system of qualification recognition)as the situation is not covered by the Directive 2002/92/CE. Annex II of the Protocol presents a model the notification of an insurance intermediary who wishes to practice, based on freedom of establishment, in another MS than that in which it has acquired the qualification and it was recorded. The information in this form, in the case of phisical persons, are: • name, surname; • address or registration number; • intermediary category, if applicable, and the name the insurer, if the intermediary operates for and on its behalf; • classes of brokered insurance products, if applicable; • work carried out in the home MS; • the current CA name; • online register address where the intermediary is listed; • the date, name and position of notification sender.

The AC of the host MS may require also additional data.

16

Protocol Relating to the Cooperation of the Competent Authorities of the Member States of the European Union in

Particular Concerning the Application of Directive 2002/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 December 2002 on Insurance Mediation, CEIOPS-DOC-02/06 Rev 1, Oct. 2008, p. 9 – at https://eiopa.europa.eu/fileadmin/tx_dam/files/publications/protocols/Luxembourg_Protocol%20_without%20annexes_Rev1 _Oct2008.pdf

Against a decision on the recognition of qualifications, considered not in line with Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications, one can act in a lecture stage appealing to SOLVIT system which constitutes a possibility of complaint simpler than the legal way.

The SOLVIT is an online network, operational since July 2002, in which the EU MS are working together to solve in a pre-legal stage, problems caused by the misapplication or nonapplication of Internal Market Community legislation by the public authorities.

There is a SOLVIT centre in every EU MS, as well as in Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.

The centers are part of the central government and must give solutions to the problems raised by citizens or companies within 10 weeks, and the network utilization is free.

The Romanian SOLVIT Centre is located within the Ministry of European Affairs (can be contacted at e-mail solvit@dae.gov.ro ).

The SOLVIT mechanism operating conditions are: • to be about the failure or misapplication of EU legislation by a Member State administration, • to be about a cross border case • that there is no action already in place for its settlement.

The cross border nature does not imply the petitioner to be in another MS than the one where the problem has occurred. It is enough to have an international element that could make applicable the provisions of Community legislation (e.g., a Romanian citizen wants to practice in Germany and has difficulty on engagement). The functioning of the SOLVIT system is shown in the diagram below.

How does it work Country A

Country A

Home SOLVIT centre

Work together to find solutions

Work together to present problem and find solutions

Lead SOLVIT centre Work together to negotiate problem

Problem Natural or legal person

Public Authority

Source: http://www.romania-actualitati.ro/conceptul_de_cetatenie_europeana-50325 (as of 07/17/2013)

For instance, if a Romanian citizen has a complaint regarding the rules of the internal market, it will address SOLVIT ROMANIA (the organization that can handle the case depending on the nationality of the person who submitted the complaint).

If a Romanian citizen has obtained the qualification in Austria, wishing to be employed in Germany and has a complaint in this regard, it will address the centre in Austria. The application will be analyzed and if deemed that the case is a breach of the Community law, it will contact LEAD SOLVIT centre (responsible SOLVIT Centre). If they agree with the proposal, it will go further to the respondent authority. The client is assisted in a language he understands, but more important is that there is a SOLVIT centre responsible who knows what procedures should be followed and which authorities should be contacted to resolve the issue.

In order to obtain a good result, SOLVIT rely on the relationship with the respondent authority. This is because it is an informal network and does not have the authority of a judge.

The reasons for which not all the petitions are addressed include: • certain issues related to the Member State legislation, if it can not give a quick solution, the case is considered unsolved; • the respondent authority is not willing to cooperate, in which case the petitioner is advised to consult the courts which are able to oblige the CA to modify their behavior accordingly to the reported aspect.

For problems related to national legislation, SOLVIT centres are working together to see how it can be amended.

4. EXERCISE IN THE EU OF THE INSURANCE AGENT AND INSURANCE BROKER PROFESSIONS According to BIPAR17 over 80,000 insurance mediation firms, with over 250,000 employees, are operating in the EU internal market, therefore in all MS. Most of the intermediaries are small businesses or even micro-businesses, place near the consumers, both in urban and rural areas. They provide personalized services almost entirely to local private clients and to small entreprises and are facing growing competition from the alternative distribution channels.

Many intermediaries are small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that serve other SMEs in all sectors of activity at regional and national level and ever more in foreign markets following their customers whenever they engaged in import - export activities, they are setting up subsidiaries or branches or open their offices abroad. Some of the intermediates are large companies that operate throughout Europe or even globally, having as client portfolio especially the large firms (corporate customers). And some of them are active not only in insurance but also in reinsurance. Therefore, overall, BIPAR consider that the insurance market is still quite fragmented in the EU, and cross-border competition is limited by a number of barriers to market access, such as lack of harmonization of the legislation SM regarding the insurance contract and taxation, which leads to the reduction of purchasing options for the consumers and obstructing operations of insurers. Insurance intermediaries should assist consumers to overcome these barriers, but often this goal remains only an aspiration.

17

BIPAR, The European Federation of Insurance Intermediaries – BIPAR response to the European Commission’s

Consultation document on the review of the Insurance Mediation Directive (IMD), February 2011

In concordance with IMD118, in all MS of the EU, Insurance and reinsurance intermediaries have the obligation to hold professional indemnity insurance and to demonstrate its financial capacity. The professional insurance must cover the whole territory of the Community and to be at least EUR 1000000 for each claim request and in aggregate EUR 1500000 per year for all claims (unless such insurance or comparable guarantee is already provided by an insurance undertaking, reinsurance undertaking on whose behalf the intermediary is acting if such undertaking has taken on full responsibility for the intermediary's actions.

The measures to protect customers against the inability of the insurance intermediary to transfer the premium to the insurance undertaking or to transfer the amount of claim or return premium to the insured shall take any one or more of the following forms:  provisions laid down by law or contract whereby monies paid by the customer to the intermediary are treated as having been paid to the undertaking, whereas monies paid by the undertaking to the intermediary are not treated as having been paid to the customer until the customer actually receives them;  to have financial capacity amounting, on a permanent basis, to 4 % of the sum of annual premiums received, subject to a minimum of EUR 15000;  a requirement that customers' monies shall be transferred via strictly segregated client accounts and that these accounts shall not be used to reimburse other creditors in the event of bankruptcy  a requirement that a guarantee fund be set up.

According to IMD1, The amounts referred to as minimum for the professional insurance and financial capacity shall be reviewed regularly, every five years, in order to take account of changes in the European Index of Consumer Prices as published by Eurostat Moreover, Insurance and reinsurance intermediaries shall be of good repute, the minimum condition being that they shall have a clean police record (or other equivalent proof in relation to serious criminal offences linked to crimes against property or to financial activities and they should not have previously been declared bankrupt ( unless they have been rehabilitated in accordance with national law).

In proposal for revision of the Directive 2002/92/EC, that is the the IMD2 project, it is provided the obligation of the insurance intermediaries to disclose any situation of conflict of interest. They should advise the customers about their status (broker, tied agent, employee of an insurance company) and the fee they receive. IMD2 provides for a transitional period of 5 years, for which the requirement applies only to life insurance intermediaries, the insurance intermediaries in other classes are required to provide this information only during the transition only on customer demand (motivation of the exemption is that to ease the transition to the new regulations of the insurance mediation SMEs).

The IMD2 project also provides that independent brokers will be allowed to accept fee only for contracts on insurance mediation with an investment component for the client.

18

Directiva Parlamentului European si a Consiliului 2002/92/CE din 9 decembrie 2002 privind intermedierea de asigurari, p.

8 – 10, la http://www.csa-isc.ro/files/directive/2002_92.pdf

CONCLUSIONS The EIOPA report based on the survey conducted between March-September 2012 on vocational training standards applied by the CA from EU MS and EEA19 is the latest document and the most complete research which addressed the issue of this guide. Therefore, we consider appropriate to render below the general conclusions presented in this report EIOPA: 1. Knowledge and aptitudes/ability requirements:  are generally a combination of academic and professional experience, but, in some instances (LU, NO, NL), academic qualifications can be waived if professional experience is long enough.  In many Members States (BE, BG, CZ, CY, DK, FR, LU, LV, NO, PL, RO and SK), the requirements for knowledge and ability are more stringent for insurance brokers than insurance agents, except for some cases (DE, GR, IT, MT) where the requirements for knowledge and ability are more stringent for agents and brokers than for other categories of intermediaries.  Notwithstanding the requirement for continuous education in some jurisdictions (see below), in a large number of cases (AT, BG, CY, FI, FR, DE, HU, IS, LV, LT, LU, NO, MT, NL and SI), knowledge and ability are only assessed by national competent authorities before the first registration of the intermediary.

2. Requirement to update knowledge and ability requirements  A large number of jurisdictions (AT, BG, CY, FR, DE, DK, HU, IS, LV, LU, MT and SI) having no formal requirement, other MS (FI, LI, LT, PT, NO, SE, SK) having a general obligation of continuous compliance with the knowledge and ability requirements, others (IE, IT, UK) specify a minimum number of hours (e.g. 30 hours) of CPD per year and others (BE, CZ, ES, PL, NL, RO, SK) provide the obligation following certain CVT courses and/or passing of an exam on a certain periodicity / over a specific number of years;  Apart from few exceptions (IE, IT, PT), there is limited availability for intermediaries to carry out updating courses through e-learning.

3. The responsibility for assessing knowledge and aptitude/ability at national level varies considerably between MS, from the assessment being carried out by national competent authorities only or in tandem with undertakings/professional associations, or through delegation to professional associations in some MS (BE, LV, NL) or to the intermediary/undertaking itself. (In IT, for example, the responsibility for assessment differs according to the category of intermediary) 4. The basic sanctions for failure to possess adequate knowledge and initial aptitude/ability are (in all the MS analyzed) in refusal to register the intermediary or withdrawal of their licence/authorisation in case the requirements are not meet permanently, but in some MS are sanctions in place for suspensions/disqualifications (CZ, ES, IE, IS, LT, NL and SE), administrative fines (NO, SE and SK) or fines/imprisonment (FR, IE, LI, PL,PT, NL).

5. As regard recognition of qualification aquired in other MS, there is very little experience amongst national competent authorities to solve the request from those who have aquired the qualification in one MS and wish to establish themselves in another MS, the proceses may be carried out by the respective CA, either by national qualification bodies or by professional associations.

19

EIOPA - Report on a mapping exercise on Industry Training Standards applied by national competent authorities, EIOPA-

BoS-12092, 28 September 2012, p. 5 - 6

The last conclusion from the EIOPA report regarding the process of recognition of qualifications for the insurance mediation business is confirmed by the analysis carried out in this guide on regulated professions in the field registered in the IMI system and to the statistics on recognition processes reported in the system: the fact that at the end of April 2013 only 7 MS had recorded 9 insurance mediation professions in the IMI system, "professional qualifications" component and, among them, only 2 MS have recorded in the system the receipt of applications for recognition of the qualifications acquired in other MS (the entire period of functioning of the IMI system - 1997/8 - 2012) shows, indeed, a little experience in applying the provisions of Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications.

This situation may be due to the fact that IMD1 sectoral directive which regulate also the professional requirements of the insurance intermediaries, on the one hand, does not contain a specific provision on mutual recognition of professional qualifications, but on the other hand, introduces the sole EU registration principle of the insurance intermediaries in order to facilitate cross-border activities, both under the freedom to provide services (FOS) and under the freedom of establishment (FOE). According to the principle sole registration, the decision to register an intermediary, valid for the whole EU, is the sole responsibility of the CA of the home MS, and the cross-border activities of an intermediary, including the freedom of establishment (permanent provision, which, according to Directive 2005/36/EC requires the recognition of professional qualifications acquired in the MS of origin) may be carried out by following the procedure of intent notification of the intermediary, notification done by CA of home MS to CA of host. MS Therefore, the Luxembourg Protocol on cooperation of the EU MS CA in implementation of Directive 2002/92/EC, initiated in 2006 in order to create a framework for cooperation and exchange of information between the CA to ensure effective supervision of insurance and reinsurance intermediaries and facilitate their unique registration in the EU, states that recognition of qualification must to be made pursuant to Directive 2005/36/EC on a general recognition system, in the case of an intermediary that wants to establish in another MS without keeping its license / original authorisation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Directive 2002/92/ec of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 December 2002 on insurance mediation at http://www.csa-isc.ro/files/directive/2002_92.pdf



CEIOPS, Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors – Report on the Implementation of the Insurance Mediation Directive’s Key Provisions, CEIOPS-DOC-09/07, March 2007 – at https://eiopa.europa.eu/fileadmin/tx_dam/ files/publications/submissionstotheec/CEIOPSDOC-09-07IMDReport.pdf



CEIOPS, Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors – Protocol Relating to the Cooperation of the Competent Authorities of the Member States of the European Union in Particular Concerning the Application of Directive 2002/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 December 2002 on Insurance Mediation, EIOPS-DOC-02/06 Rev 1, Oct 2008 – at https://eiopa.europa.eu/fileadmin/tx_dam/files/publications/protocols/Luxembourg_Protocol%20_without%2 0annexes_Rev1_Oct2008.pdf



EIOPA, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority - Report on a mapping exercise on Industry Training Standards applied by national competent authorities, EIOPA-BoS-12092, 28 September 2012 – at https://eiopa.europa.eu/fileadmin/tx_dam/files/publications/reports/EIOPA-BoS-12092_Report_on_mapping_exercise_on_Industry_Training_Standards_applied_by_NCAs.pdf



EIOPA, European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority – Consultation Paper on a Draft Report on Good Supervisory Practices regarding knowledge and ability requirements for distributors of insurance products, EIOPA-CP-13/016, 27 June 2013 – at https://eiopa.europa.eu/consultations/consultationpapers/index.html?no_cache=1&cid=5767&did=32596&sechash=1506a664.



European Commission - Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on insurance mediation (recast), Brussels, XXX, COM(2012) 360/2, 2012/0175 (COD) – forma bilingvă engleză-română at http://eur-lex.europa.eu/Notice.do?mode=dbl&lng1=en,ro&lang=&lng2=bg,cs,da,de,el,en,es,et,fi,fr,it,lv,ro ,sk,sl,sv,&val=681131:cs&page=0



Dr. Alina Domaradzka, Lecturer, EIPA Luxembourg – The Revision of the Insurance Mediation Rules at EU Level and its Impact on Consumer Protection – at http://www.eipa.eu/files/repository/eipascope/20121213145141_ADO_Eipascope2012_2.pdf



The European Federation of Insurance Intermediaries (BIPAR) Response - European Commission’s Consultation document on the Review of the Insurance Mediation Directive (IMD), February 2011



London Economics – Insurance Intermediaries in Europe – 2012 Update, report to BIPAR, September 2012 – at http://www.bipar.eu/en/library/economic-data



PwC – Study on the impact of the revision of the Insurance Mediation Directive (ETD/2007/IM/B2/51), Final Report, prepared for the EC DG Internal Market and Services, May 23rd 2011 – at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/insurance/docs/mediation/imd_final_en.pdf



Act no. 930 of 18 September 2008 - Consolidated Insurance Mediation Act, GlobalDenmark Translations, February 2009, at http://www.finanstilsynet.dk/upload/Finanstilsynet/Mediafiles/newdoc/Acts/CAct930_180908.pdf



Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (BaFin)/ Federal Financial Supervisory Authority in Germany - ’12 Annual Report, Bonn and Frankfurt am Main, May 2013, at http://www.bafin.de/ SharedDocs/Downloads/EN/Jahresbericht/dl_annualreport_2012.pdf?__blob=publicationFile



The Insurance Supervisory Commission (CSA) - Report on the insurance market and the activity carried out in 2012, Bucharest, June 2013 - at http://www.csa-isc.ro/files/Raport%20anual%20CSA%202012.pdf



IMF Country Report no. 12/139 – Spain: IAIS Insurance Core Principles: Detailed Assessment of Observance, June 2012, at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2012/cr12139.pdf



IMF Country Report no. 11/272 – Germany: Financial Sector Assessment Program - Detailed Assessment of Observance

on

Insurance

Core

Principles,

September

2011,

at

http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2011/cr11272.pdf 

IMF Country Report no. 11/234 – UK: Insurance Core Principles Detailed Assessment of Observance, July 2011, at http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2011/cr11234.pdf



IMF, Monetary and Financial Systems Department - Detailed Assessment of Observance of the Insurance Core Principles, Italy, February 2006, at http://www.dt.tesoro.it/export/sites/sitodt/modules/documenti_it/rapporti_finanziari_internazionali/rapporti_f inanziari_internazionali/05Detailed-Assessment-of-Observance-.pdf



Capgemini and EFMA – World Insurance Report 2013, at http://www.capgemini.com/sites/default/files/resource/pdf/wir_2013_0.pdf



European Commission, Internal Market and Services DG (2010) – Group of Coordinators for the Recognition of Professional Qualifications – Frequently Asked Questions (Update 22 October 2010 – MARKT D/3418/6/2006-EN) at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/docs/future/faq_en.pdf



European Commission – User Guide, Directive 2005/36/EC, at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/docs/guide/users_guide_en.pdf



European Commission – Code of Conduct approved by the Group of Coordinators for the Directive 2005/36/EC on the Recognition of Professional Qualifications – National Administrative Practices Falling under Directive 2005/36/EC – at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/docs/future/cocon_en.pdf



European Commission – Commission Staff Working Document on the Transposition and Implementation of the Professional Qualifications Directive (Directive 2005/36/EC), Brussels, 22 /10/2010, SEC(2010) 1292, at http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/docs/evaluation/staff-working-doc_en.pdf

ABBREVIATIONS AC/CA – Competent Authority (for one or more regulated professions) AFM - Dutch Authority for Financial Markets ANC/NAQ – National Authority for Qualifications (from Romania) ASF/FSA – Financial Supervisory Authority (by merging - CNVM, CSA and CSSPP - Romania) ASSESS - online system through which CII (UK) provides FPC BaFin - Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht (Federal Financial Supervisory Authority in Germany) BIPAR - The European Federation of Insurance Intermediaries (Federaţia Europeană a Intermediarilor de Asigurări) BMWFJ - Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft, Familie und Jugend (Federal Ministry of Economy, Family and Youth of Austria) BMWI - Bundesministerium für Wirtschaft und Technologie (Ministerul Federal al Economiei şi Tehnologiei din Germania) CDFD – College Deskundigheid Financiële Dienstverlening (Financial Services Competences College / Council ) CE/EC – European Commission CEC/EQF – Cadrul European al Calificărilor/European Qualifications Framework CEIOPS - Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors (Comitetul European al Supraveghetorilor din Asigurări şi Pensii Ocupaţionale, substituted by EIOPA from 1.01.2011) CII – Institutul Certificat de Asigurari (Chartered Insurance Institute from the United Kingdom) CNVM – National Securities Commission (from Romania, incorporated in the current ASF) COR - Classification of Occupations in Romania CSA – The Insurance Supervisory Commission (from Romania, incorporated in the current ASF) CSF - Financial Stability Council (at international level) CSSPP – Supervisory Commission of Private Pension System (from Romania, incorporated in the current ASF) DFSA - Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (Finanstilsynet/ Autoritatea Daneză de Supraveghere Financiară) DG/GD – General Directorate DGSFP - Dirección General de Seguros y Fondos de Pensiones (General Directorate of Insurance and Pension Funds, the Supervisory Authority in Spain) DIHK - Deutsche Industrie-und Handelskammertag (The Association of German Chambers of Industry and Commerce) DNB - De Nederlandsche Bank (Central Bank of the Netherlands) EFMA – European Financial Management Association (Asociaţia Europeană de Management Financiar) EFP/ VET - Vocational Education and Training EIOPA – Autoritatea Europeană de Asigurări şi Pensii Ocupaţionale – AEAPO (The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority, which substituted CEIOPS from 1.01.2011)

EIPA – European Institute of Public Administration (Institutul European de Administraţie Publică) FCA - Financial Conduct Authority (Autoritatea de Conduită Financiară din Marea Britanie) FMA - Finanzmarktaufsichtsbehörde (Austrian Financial Market Authority) FMI – Fondul Monetar Internaţional (International Monetary Fund – IMF) FOE - Freedom of Establishment (libertatea de stabilire, în UE) FOS - Freedom of services (libertatea de a presta servicii, în UE) FPC CVT - continuing vocational training FSA - Legea Supravegherii Financiare (Financial Supervision Act of the Netherlands) G20 – World Forum, a group of finance ministers and central bank governors of 19 countries (South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, South Korea, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, United Britain, Mexico, Russia, USA, Turkey) and EU, countries amounting 90% of global GDP, 80% of world trade (including EU) and two-thirds of the world population GewO – The law on trade, crafts and industry (in Austria and Germany) IAIS – International Association of Insurance Supervisors (Asociaţia Internaţională a Supraveghetorilor în Asigurări) IHKs - Industrie- und Handelskammern (chambers of industry and commerce in Germany) IIS – International Insurance Society (Societatea Internaţională a Asigurărilor) IMA – Insurance Management Institute (from Romania) IMD1 - Directive 2002/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on insurance mediation IMD2 - Directive 2002/92/CE, revised IMI – Internal Market Information system (information system of the EU single market) IMM/SMEs – small and medium enterprises IPS - Institute for Social Policy (in Romania) ISCO-08 - International Standard Classification of Occupations, developed by the ILO in 2008 ISVAP – Instituto per la Vigilanza sulle Assigurazioni Private e di Interesse Collettivo (former insurance supervisory authority in Italy) IVASS - Instituto per la Vigilanza sulle Assigurazioni ( the current insurance supervisory authority in Italy) JO – Official Journal of UE LCS - Ley de Contrato de Seguro (Insurance contract law in Spain) LMSP - Ley de Mediación de los Seguros Privados (Law on private insurance mediation in Spain) MEC - Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness in Spain MEN – Ministry of National Education (from Romania) MO – Official Journal (in Romania) OCDE – Organizaţia pentru Cooperare şi Dezvoltare Economică (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – OECD) Ofqual - Oficiul de Reglementare a Calificărilor şi Examinărilor (Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation, in the United Kingdom)

OIM - Organizaţia Internaţională a Muncii (International Labour Organisation – ILO) PRA - Autoritatea de Supraveghere Prudenţială (Prudential Regulation Authority from Marea Britanie) ROSSP - Reglamento de Ordenación y Supervisión de los Seguros Privados (The Code of organisation and supervision of private insurances in Spain) SEE/EEA – European Economic Area (all EU MS + Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway) SM/MS – Member State (of the European Union) TRLOSSP - Texto Refundido Ley de Odenación y Supervisión de los Seguros Privados (Law on the organization and supervision of private insurance organizations in Spain) UE/EU – European Union VAG - Versicherungsaufsichtsgesetz (The law on the supervision of insurance in Austria and Germany) VersVermV - Versicherungsvermittlerverordnung (Law on Insurance Mediation in Germany)

USEFUL LINKS 

EU MS insurance authorities– http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/insurance/links/index_en.htm#maincontentSec2



CE database with information regarding the transposition into national law of MS of the Directives on Financial

Services

Action

Plan

http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/finances/actionplan/transposition/index_en.htm 

EIOPA - https://eiopa.europa.eu/



IAIS - http://www.iaisweb.org/



IIS – http://iisonline.org/about-iis/



BIPAR - http://www.bipar.eu/



EC database of the regulated professions in the MS – http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/regprof/index.cfm?newlang=en



National Contact Points for qualifications recognition from MS



http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market/qualifications/contact/national_contact_points_en.htm



MS SOLVIT Centers http://ec.europa.eu/solvit

-