Insurance transparency and protection regime under the Insurance Distribution Directive
Insurance transparency and protection regime under the Insurance Distribution Directive

Summary/Abstract: On 20 January 2016, after a long, four-year legislation process, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament officially adopted the Insurance Distribution Directive No EU 2016/97. The aims of the IDD were to improve regulation in the insurance market, create more opportunities for cross-border activity, establish the conditions necessary for fair competition between distribu- tors of insurance products, and above all, to strengthen consumer protection. The whole philosophy of the regulation has been significantly changed, by encompassing not only the insurance interme- diation, but all the forms of insurance distribution, including the direct sale carried out by the insurers. The protective goals of the IDD are now to be performed mainly by tightening the rules on the informa- tion and advice provided by insurance distributors. The author’s goal is to present the transparency regime, which has been raised up in the IDD to the role of one of the main principles governing insur- ance distribution. The analysis carried out in the article presents the IDD provisions in the perspective of its transparency aspect in order to show that the key aspects of the new protection regime can all be understood as an advanced transparency principle not limited to informational duties, but extend- ing also to such issues as product governance, conflict of interests and remuneration rules. The article mentions also the efforts of the Polish national legislator with respect to the implementation of the IDD as well as the outcome of the current legislation status.

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