Regulation No. 9 fixing the amount of administrative fines under Article 82 of the Law of 9 July 1975 on the control of insurance companies

(Extract from the Belgian Moniteur of 14 June 1995)

MINISTRY OF ECONOMIC AFFAIRS

Insurance Control Office

Regulation No. 9. — Approval

By the ministerial decree of 21 March 1995, Regulation No. 9 of 1 March 1995 of the Insurance Control Office fixing the amount of administrative fines referred to in Article 82 of the Law of 9 July 1975 on the control of insurance companies is approved.

This decree enters into force on the date of this publication.

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REGULATION NO. 9 OF THE INSURANCE CONTROL OFFICE FIXING THE AMOUNT OF ADMINISTRATIVE FINES REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 82 OF THE LAW OF 9 JULY 1975 ON THE CONTROL OF INSURANCE COMPANIES

The Insurance Control Office,

Having regard to the Law of 9 July 1975 on the control of insurance companies, in particular Article 82, as amended by the Law of 19 July 1991 and by the Royal Decree of 12 August 1994;

Having regard to the opinion of the Insurance Commission;

Having regard to the internal regulations of the Council of the Insurance Control Office, approved by the Royal Decree of 13 November 1975, in particular Article 11,

Decides:

Article 1. For the purposes of this Regulation, the following terms shall mean:

— the control law: the Law of 9 July 1975 on the control of insurance companies, as amended by the Law of 24 December 1976, the Royal Decrees of 9 June 1981, 31 March 1987, 9 September 1988 and 22 February 1991, the Laws of 19 July 1991, 25 June 1992 and 4 August 1992 and the Royal Decrees of 8 January 1993 and 12 August 1994;

— the general regulation: the Royal Decree of 22 February 1991 laying down the general regulation on the control of insurance companies, as amended by the Royal Decrees of 11 January 1993, 12 August 1994 and 22 November 1994;

— the Office: the Insurance Control Office;

— day: calendar day.

Art. 2. In the event of failure to comply with the deadline imposed by the Insurance Control Office to comply with the law, the decrees and the implementing regulations thereof, an administrative fine, the amount of which is determined by this Regulation, may be imposed from the date set.

Art. 3. An administrative fine of:

1° 5,000 francs to 50,000 francs.

— per day, for contracts or claims that have not been registered by separate management on a list, a file or any other register, or have been registered incompletely or in contradiction with the law or its implementing decrees;

— per day, for data, information or documents that have not been communicated to the Insurance Control Office, or have been communicated incompletely or contrary to what is required, with regard to the data, documents or remarks referred to in Articles 22, 23, 23bis, 26, 50, 55, 57, 65 and 69 of the control law, in Articles 11bis and 21 of the general regulation, in Articles 4 and 11 of the Royal Decree of 12 October 1990 on legal protection insurance and in the regulations of the Insurance Control Office;

— per day, for documents that do not contain the data referred to in Article 20 of the control law or in implementation of Article 20 of the control law or mention them inaccurately or incompletely;

— per day, for documents that contain data prohibited by Article 20 of the control law;

— per day, for documents relating to contracts concluded by the Belgian establishment that are not kept or are kept incompletely either at the registered office of the Belgian company, or at the Belgian seat of the agency or branch of a foreign company, or at another place previously admitted by the Insurance Control Office;

— per day, for transfers contrary to Chapter Vquater;

— per day, for contracts and provisions not meeting the requirements of Article 14 of the general regulation;

— per day, for contracts not meeting the provisions of the Royal Decree of 12 October 1990 on legal protection insurance;

— per day, for contracts not meeting the provisions of the Royal Decrees of 1 February 1988 and 24 December 1992 regulating insurance against fire and other perils, with regard to simple risks;

— per day, for contracts not meeting the provisions of the Royal Decree of 12 January 1984 determining the minimum guarantee conditions for insurance contracts covering extra-contractual civil liability relating to private life;

— per day, for contracts not meeting the provisions of the Royal Decree of 25 August 1992 concerning the adaptation of insurance contracts and other insurance documents to the Law of 25 June 1992 on the land insurance contract;

— per day, for contracts not meeting the provisions of the Royal Decree of 17 December 1992 on life insurance activity;

— per day, for contracts not meeting the provisions of the Royal Decree of 14 December 1992 on the standard contract for compulsory motor vehicle liability insurance;

— per day for the non-application of Article 12 of the general regulation;

— per day for the non-application of the Royal Decree of 17 November 1994 on the annual accounts of insurance companies.

2° 7,500 francs to 75,000 francs.

a) — per day, for provisions that the company refuses to delete from its statutes and which are prejudicial to the insured, policyholders and beneficiaries;

— per day, in the case where the company totally or partially refuses the withdrawal or reforming of documents of a contractual or advertising nature that are incomplete or inaccurate. With regard to both posters and spots and other advertising campaigns, the amount is increased to 250,000 francs per day and per advertisement;

— per day, in the event of refusal to put an end to irregular situations referred to in Article 71 of the control law;

— per day, for not having communicated the data necessary for the calculation of individual control costs or having done so only partially as well as for not having made the payment relating to control costs or having done so partially or late;

b) — per day, for contracts offered or concluded by companies that have not been previously approved or authorized to carry on an insurance activity or no longer meet the conditions for approval or authorization required by the control law or its implementing decrees;

— per day, for the non-compliance or incomplete compliance with a prohibition imposed by the Insurance Control Office;

— per day, for the incomplete communication of data, information, documents, files or contracts to the Insurance Control Office;

— per day, with regard to documents, files or contracts that do not respect a provision of a regulation of the Insurance Control Office.

The administrative fines referred to in point b) are only imposed insofar as they are not expressly provided for in points 1°, 2° a), and 3° a) to 5° inclusive;

3° 15,000 francs to 150,000 francs.

— per day, with regard to the intentional inaccuracy of data, information or documents sent to the Insurance Control Office or the remarks referred to in Articles 22, 23, 23bis, 26, 50, 55, 57, 65 and 69 of the control law, in Articles 11bis and 21 of the general regulation, in Articles 4 and 11 of the Royal Decree of 12 October 1990 on legal protection insurance and in the regulations of the Insurance Control Office;

— per day, when officials of the Insurance Control Office or independent experts mandated by the Insurance Control Office are prevented or hindered in their mission consisting of taking knowledge of the books, accounting documents, prospectuses and other documents at the seat of the companies or their subsidiaries, agencies and offices, or of carrying out inquiries into their financial situation and activity;

— per day, for not having designated or replaced a general agent in accordance with Article 12 or 50, § 2, of the control law;

4° 200,000 francs to 2,000,000 francs per day for not having communicated information and observations in accordance with Article 22, § 1, 2° and 3° paragraph of the control law;

5° 0.08% per day of the lent capital of loans and advances granted to directors, managers or directors that are not in conformity with the conditions accepted by the Insurance Control Office;

Art. 4. The administrative fines are increased by 5% per tranche of 1,000,000,000 francs of the premium collection of the last closed financial year of the insurance company.

Art. 5. In the event of recidivism of the same offence within a period of five years, the last administrative fine is increased by 50%.

Art. 6. The amounts mentioned in the preceding articles are limited to the maxima fixed in Article 82 of the control law.

Art. 7. This Regulation shall be published in the Belgian Moniteur at the same time as the extract of the ministerial decree approving it. It enters into force on the day of its publication.

Brussels, 1 March 1995.

The President, J.-M. Delporte.