Insurance regulation: product information disclosure

The EU’s Insurance Distribution Directive, European Parliament and Council Directive 2016/97/EU is primarily concerned with the regulation of brokers and other intermediaries, but it does contain other provisions relevant to distribution. Article 20 makes provision for disclosure of product information where advice has not been sought by the customer. Article 20(8) lists the matters that are to be contained in a product information document, relating most importantly to the main insured and excluded risks and the obligations of the parties.

Article 20(9) states that the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA), after consulting national authorities and after consumer testing, is to develop technical standards for a standardised presentation of insurance product information. Those standards have now been adopted in the form of Commission Implementing Regulation 2017/1469/EU. The Regulation applies only to non-life insurance.