Solvency II
(i) Solvency II Delegated Regulation
On 10 October 2014, the European Commission published the final version of the text of a Delegated Regulation (the "Delegated Regulation") it adopted supplementing Directive 2009/138/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25th November 2009 (the "Solvency II Directive") as amended by Directive 2014/51/EU (the "Omnibus II Directive"), (hereinafter "Solvency II"). The Delegated Regulation can only enter into force after it is published in the Official Journal of the European Union (the "Official Journal"), which will only occur after the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have approved the Delegated Regulation. The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have six months to approve the Delegated Regulation.
In this regard on 28 November 2014, the Council of the European Union issued a press release confirming (amongst other things) that it will not object to the Delegated Regulation. However, on 10 December 2014, the European Parliament published a motion for a resolution to object to the Delegated Regulation. This motion was tabled by Sven Giegold on behalf of the Greens/European Free Alliance political group pursuant to Rule 105(4) of the Parliament's Rules of Procedure. The motion provides that the group objects to the Delegated Regulation because the Delegated Regulation deviates from technical advice submitted to the European Commission by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Committee ("EIOPA").
However, on 18 December 2014, the European Parliament published a provisional edition of the minutes from its plenary session held on 17 December 2014, which among other things, considered and voted on the motion for a resolution to object to the European Commission's Delegated Regulation supplementing the Solvency II Directive. The Parliament rejected the motion. Ms Catherine Stihler, Parliament rapporteur for the Solvency II Delegated Regulation, said that the majority of political groups agreed that any issues were not sufficiently important to policyholder security to warrant reopening the Delegated Regulation at this late stage. Ms Stihler went on to say that reopening the Solvency II "package" at this stage would put implementation back by years, and commented on the fact that there will be a review before the end of 2018. Ms Stihler advised that the review would provide an opportunity to deal with any issues that arise. She also said that the Parliament's negotiating team have written to the European Commission with some requests for changes during the review, and have asked the European Commission to carry out the review as soon as possible.
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