EUROPEAN COMMISSION – ACCEPTING THE COMMITMENTS OFFERED BY INSURANCE IRELAND

26/08/2022

European Commission has announced that it accepted the commitments offered by the Insurance Ireland and made them legally binding. These commitments offered to address Commission’s competition concerns that Insurance Ireland arbitrarily delayed or in practice denied access of non-members to its Insurance Link information exchange system, thereby restricting competition in the Irish motor vehicle insurance market.

According to Commission, Insurance Ireland placed certain companies at a competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis its members who had access to the platform and this application create a barrier to entry, particularly for insurers based in other Member States, ultimately reducing the possibility of more competitive prices and choice of suppliers for consumers seeking motor vehicle insurance in Ireland. To address this competition concern, Insurance Ireland has offered following commitments:

To make the access to the Insurance Link information exchange system independent from membership to Insurance Ireland.
To change the access criteria to Insurance Link and make them fair, objective, transparent and non-discriminatory and to apply them uniformly to all applicants, from Ireland and other Member States.
To establish a new Insurance Link application procedure with a defined timeline that will be handled by an operationally independent Application Officer, who is of a sufficient level of seniority and has experience in the insurance sector acquired in a professional capacity. Applicants who have been refused access will be able to appeal to the Oversight Committee, an independent appeal body.
To establish a cost and usage-based fee model and to ensure that a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory fee will be charged to Insurance Link users.
To ensure that the criteria for becoming member of the Insurance Ireland association will be fair, objective, transparent and non-discriminatory.

As a result, Commission found these commitments sufficient and made them legally binding for 10 years.

(European Commission – 30.06.2022)

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EUROPEAN COMMISSION – ACCEPTING THE COMMITMENTS OFFERED BY INSURANCE IRELAND

This document provides general information on the subject and does not constitute a legal opinion or recommendation. Consulting a specialist is recommended before taking an action. No claim arising from the content of or relating to this document can be asserted against NAZALI.