GIM10030 - Non-resident insurers: regulatory background: EEA insurers: “EEA firms” with a branch or providing services in the UK: passport rights

An “EEA firm” does not have to seek permission from the FSA under Part 4 FSMA 2000 provided it has “EEA Passport Rights” under Schedule 3 to the Act. An EEA firm is one which is a company effecting or carrying out contracts of general insurance which

• does not have its head office in the UK and
• has received authorisation under Article 6 of the First Non-Life Insurance Directive from its home state regulator in another EEA state, and
• seeks to carry on direct insurance (i.e. not reinsurance) activities in the UK.

The FSA receives notice from the EEA home state regulator that it has given consent to the EEA firm to establish a branch or provide services in the UK, in respect of permitted activities and in accordance with the insurance directives. An “EEA state” means the 24 members of the EU (apart from the UK) plus Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein, and by virtue of FSMA 2000 (Gibraltar) Regulations 2001 (SI2001/3084), Gibraltar. Such a company is known in FSMA 2000 and the FSA’s Sourcebooks made under it, and in this Chapter, as an “EEA Insurer”. Under a reciprocal agreement between Switzerland and the EEC (Council Decision 91/370/EEC), essentially the same regulatory position applies also to Swiss direct non-life insurers.