II.

Best Practices in Insurance

The following obligations are assumed under Article XVIII of the General Agreement on

Trade in Services, which allows for additional commitments to be entered into schedules

other than those covered by market access and national treatment, as defined in Articles

XVI and XVII, respectively.

A. Transparency

1.  New and existing regulations, as well as revisions to existing regulations, will be

made publicly available at all times, preferably in a public journal or register, in

order to insure their availability to all interested parties.

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2.  New or revised regulations will be submitted for public comment prior to their

enactment.  A reasonable period of time, ordinarily no less than one month, will

be provided to interested parties to submit comments on all proposed

regulations.

3.  New or revised regulations will not be made effective until market participants

have had a reasonable period of time to become familiar with their contents and

take necessary steps to implement them. Except for regulations which must be

implemented immediately, due to emergency or other exigency, they will, at a

minimum, enter into legal force two weeks following their publication.

4. As part of the procedures for implementing new or revised regulations, the

countries will provide, in writing, their explanation as to the reasons for rejecting

or accepting proposals made by interested parties.

5.  An insurance supplier applying for a license will be provided with a written

statement, setting out fully and precisely the documents and other information

necessary for obtaining authorization. This statement should aim to simplify and

accelerate, as appropriate, the specific procedures to be followed.

6.  Countries will ensure that there are established procedures that enable consumers

to assess the creditworthiness of insurance companies. In addition, they will

insure that insurance suppliers are free to provide information on their

creditworthiness to the public, including information from independent rating

organizations that provide such assessments.

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7.  Subject to the exception under Article XIV(c)(ii), countries will ensure that there

will be no restrictions on the availability of financial services information from

domestic or foreign sources to registered insurance suppliers.

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This obligation forms part of a general obligation assumed by all Members under GATS Article III.

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    This obligation is subject to Article 2 (b) of the Annex on Financial Services.

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