1. what is the current legal situation? The professional brokerage of insurance is currently not subject to licensing in Germany. However, according to Section 14 of the Trade, Commerce and Industry Regulation Act (GewO) requires traders to notify the Trade Licensing Office of the commencement of their activities. If the Trade Licensing Office has reason to doubt the reliability of the trader, proceedings may be initiated to prohibit the trade on grounds of unreliability.
2. why are there new regulations? On the basis of Directive 2002/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 9 December 2002 on insurance mediation (the Directive), all member states are obliged to subject the activity of insurance mediation to a licensing requirement.
The Directive became effective upon publication in the Official Journal of the EU. The German legislator must now transpose the provisions into German law. Transposition should have taken place by 15 January 2005. After the presentation of a draft law had been postponed several times, the Federal Cabinet decided on 03 May 2006 on a draft law presented by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) for the reorganization of the insurance intermediary law (VerVerm-E), which is to come into force on 01 April 2007 at the latest. The Bundesrat commented on this on 16 June 2006, and the Federal Government responded on 30 August 2006. It is expected that the new regulations will be adopted at the end of 2006.
Intermediaries’ stakeholders, chambers and associations are actively involved in the implementation process of the Directive…..