Last night, the German Parliament approved the German IDD Implementation ‎Act in an updated version (recommendation of the Economic Committee of 28 June 2017).

In the parliamentary process, some last minute changes were made (see https://www.clydeco.com/blog/insurance-hub/article/europes-new-regime-on-insurance-distribution with regard to the original draft). In particular, the intensively discussed prohibition for insurance brokers to obtain remuneration other than commission payments from the insurers (i.e. in particular no fee to be charged to the insured) has been deleted.

The final step in the IDD Implementation Act will be taken by decision of the Federal Council, which is scheduled for 7 July 2017.

Further specifications of the new legal framework for insurance distributors will be made by a Commission Delegated Regulation, which will be directly applicable in the member states. A draft is expected for July 2017.

On a German level, further details will be provided in a Regulation by the Federal Ministry of Economics, which will e.g. provide additional guidance on the training requirements. ?For that purpose, the existing Insurance Intermediation Regulation will be updated. Remarkably, one of the last minute changes was to include a parliamentary reservation also with regard to the Insurance Intermediation Regulation. This means that prior to a decision of the Federal Council, the German Parliament will have three weeks to consider the regulation and to amend or reject it - a requirement rather uncommon with regard to ministerial regulations. It is said that given the substance of the issues covered by the regulation, the parliamentary bodies involved in the process to adopt the IDD Implementation Act felt the need to be involved also in that regard. Due to the need to involve the Parliament, the process to adopt the regulation will take longer and will only be finalised after the federal elections in September 2017.

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