Access to Goods and Services and their Supply

L.N. 417 of 2012

EQUALITY OF MEN AND WOMEN ACT

(CAP. 456)

Access to Goods and Services and their Supply

(Equal Treatment) (Amendment) Regulations, 2012

IN exercise of the powers conferred by article 20 of the Equality

of Men and Women Act, the Minister for Justice, Dialogue and the

Family has made the following regulations:-

(1) The title of these regulations is the Access to Goods

and Services and their Supply (Equal Treatment) (Amendment)

Regulations, 2012, and these regulations shall be read and construed

as one with the Access to Goods and Services and their Supply (Equal

Treatment) Regulations, hereinafter referred to as "the principal

regulations".

(2) These regulations give effect to the Communication from

the European Commission (22.12.2011 C(2011) 9497) containing

Guidelines on the application of Council Directive 2004/113/EC to

insurance, in the light of the judgment of the Court of Justice of the

European Union in Case C-236/09 (Test-Achats).

Regulation 5 of the principal regulations shall be amended

as follows

(a)

sub-regulation (1) thereof shall be substituted by the

following

"(1) Subject to sub-regulation (2), the use of sex

as a factor in the calculation of premiums and benefits for

the purposes of insurance and related financial services

shall not result in differences in the premiums and benefits

relating to an individual with respect to insurance contracts

concluded after 21st December 2007 where the

policyholder is an individual.";

(b) sub-regulations (2) and (3) thereof shall be

renumbered as sub-regulations (3) and (4) respectively;

(c)

immediately after sub-regulation (1) thereof, there

shall be added the following new sub-regulation

"(2) The provisions of sub-regulation (1) shall not

apply with respect to insurance contracts concluded before

21st December 2012, where the use of sex is a determining

factor in the assessment of risk, if the resulting differences

in the premiums and benefits relating to an individual are

proportionate, and where this assessment is based on

relevant and accurate actuarial statistical data.";

(d) in sub-regulation (3) thereof, as re-numbered, for the

words "Providers of insurance" there shall be substituted the

words "For the purposes of sub-regulation (2), providers of

insurance"; and

(e)

immediately after sub-regulation (4) thereof, as re-

numbered, there shall be added the following new sub-

regulation

"(5) For the purposes of sub-regulation (2), an

insurance contract shall be deemed to have been concluded

before 21st December 2012 notwithstanding that

(a)

the said insurance contract is

extended automatically on or after 21st December

2012 on the basis of terms and conditions in an

insurance contract concluded before 21st

December 2012 (hereinafter referred as a "pre-

existing contract"); or

(b)

the said insurance contract is

amended on or after 21st December 2012 on the

basis of terms and conditions in a pre-existing

contract, where the consent of the policyholder is

not required; or

(c)

the said insurance contract is a top-

up or follow-on insurance policy whose terms

were agreed in a pre-existing contract, where

such insurance contract is activated by the

unilateral decision of the policyholder; or

(d)

a pre-existing contract is amended

on or after 21st December 2012 on the request

and with the consent of the policyholder, on

condition that such amendment does not result in

any increase in premium; or

(e)

the said insurance contract is part of

a scheme under which an insurance company

transfers to another insurance company all rights

and obligations arising from pre-existing

contracts in accordance with the provisions of the

Insurance Business Act.".

€0.27