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Pohlmann, Petra --- "Principles-based Insurance Regulation: Lessons to be Learned from a Comparison of the EU and German Law of Risk Management" [2012] ELECD 168; in Burling, Julian; Lazarus, Kevin (eds), "Research Handbook on International Insurance Law and Regulation" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2012)

Book Title: Research Handbook on International Insurance Law and Regulation

Editor(s): Burling, Julian; Lazarus, Kevin

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781849807883

Section: Chapter 14

Section Title: Principles-based Insurance Regulation: Lessons to be Learned from a Comparison of the EU and German Law of Risk Management

Author(s): Pohlmann, Petra

Number of pages: 26

Extract:

14 Principles-based insurance regulation: lessons to be
learned from a comparison of the EU and German
law of risk management
Petra Pohlmann



The EU Member States have to implement the Solvency II Framework Directive by the
beginning of 2013. The new, principles-based regulatory approach brings new require-
ments for the national legislative bodies and supervisory authorities. This chapter identi-
fies the specific questions posed by the creation of principles-based law. It begins with an
account of the background (section 1) and goes on to compare the principles of risk
management ensuing from European and German law (section 2) before exploring how
the concept of principles-based law is understood (section 3) and how the principles are
fleshed out by further legal instruments (section 4). The findings (section 5) are to
heighten the awareness of the legislative bodies and supervisory authorities of the
problems involved in designing a new insurance supervision regime for Europe.


1. BACKGROUND

1.1 Solvency II

Pursuing a program of harmonized insurance regulation the third-generation Insurance
Directives of the European Union established with the single license principle an `EU-
passport' for insurers.1 Many Member States, however, considered the EU framework of
insurance regulation to be insufficient. They implemented their own reforms, which led to
a patchwork of regulatory requirements across the EU. To correct this the Solvency II
Framework Directive2 (in this chapter referred to as `the Directive') was initiated by the
European Commission in 2000 and adopted by the European Parliament ...