31. 12. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 343/9 
Opinion on the proposal for a Council Directive amending the First Directive 73/239/EEC 
on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to the taking 
up and pursuit of the business of direct insurance other than life insurance, particularly as 
regards tourist assistance 
The text referred to the Committee has been published in Official Journal of the 
European Communities No C 51 of 10 march 1981, page 5. 
A. LEGAL BASIS FOR THE OPINION 
On 23 January 1981 the Council referred the abovementioned proposal to the Economic 
and Social Committee in accordance with Article 198 of the Treaty establishing the 
European Economic Community. 
B. OPINION OF THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE 
The Economic and Social Committee prepared its opinion on the above matter at its 
191st plenary session held in Brussels on 28 and 29 October 1981. 
The full text of the opinion is as follows: 
THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 
Having regard to the Treaty establishing the 
European Economic Community, and in particular 
Article 198 thereof, 
Having regard to the request made by the Council of 
the European Communities on 23 January 1981 for 
an opinion on the proposal for a Council Directive 
amending the First Directive 73/239/EEC on the 
coordination of laws, regulations and administrative 
provisions relating to the taking up and pursuit of the 
business of direct insurance other than life insurance, 
particularly as regards tourist assistance, 
Having regard to the Committee chairman's decision 
on 20 March 1981 instructing the above Section to 
prepare the opinion and report on this matter, 
Having regard to the opinion issued by the Section 
for Industry, Commerce, Crafts and Services at its 
meeting of 7 October 1981, 
Having regard to the report submitted by the 
rapporteur, Mr De Bruyn, Having regard to the discussions at its 191st plenary 
session held on 28 and 29 October 1981 (meeting of 
28 October 1981). 
HAS ADOPTED THE FOLLOWING OPINION 
by 75 votes to 9, with 10 abstentions: 
1. Basically the draft Directive lays down 
coordinated, Community-wide rules on the taking up 
and pursuit of the business of tourist assistance. The 
Commission had two main alternatives here. It could 
have treated tourist assistance as a form of insurance 
or it could have drafted a specific Directive. In the 
end the Commission plumped for the first 
approach. 
2. The Committee supports the objectives 
contained in the proposal, but considers that they 
would be better achieved through a specific 
Directive. While there are certain similarities 
between tourist assistance and insurance 
(commitment to provide services in the event of 
difficulties, subject to advance payment of a fixed 
sum), there are also a number of basic differences: 
No C 343/10 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
(a) indemnity insurance provides cash benefits in 
the event of an accident. Tourist assistance is 
generally confined to giving beneficiaries access 
to an organization and technical structures in 
the event of difficulties or emergencies; 
(b) most insurance policies provide for cash 
payments within the limits laid down by the 
insurance contract. Tourist assistance merely 
covers emergency on-the-spot service in kind, 
largely provided by a specific organization using 
its own resources or operating through agents. 
This bears little resemblance to insurance 
practice; 
(c) while insurance companies are not normally 
geared to tourist assistance, which requires 
operational capacity coupled with rapid, 
sweeping decision-making powers, assistance 
organizations are on call round-the-clock and 
have a high degree of flexibility enabling them to 
deploy a wide range of assistance without 
delay; 
(d) insurance companies can only provide benefits 
within the limits and circumstances expressly 
covered by the insurance policy. Tourist 
assistance forms are, however, more flexible. 
Beneficiaries can usually request assistance at 
any time whenever problems arise, even if the 
circumstances are not expressly covered by the 
contract. 
3. Given the growth in tourist assistance there is a 
need to supervise firms and organizations operating 
in this sector. The general public must have some 
guarantee that such organizations are genuinely 
capable of honouring their commitments. A specific 
Directive should be enacted for this area. Tourist 
assistance should not be lumped together with 
insurance as this would inevitably have fiscal and 
social repercussions. The Committee believes that it 
is possible for the Member States to assign 
responsibility for monitoring tourist assistance firms 
to the bodies responsible for monitoring insurance 
companies. 
4. Nevertheless the Committee would make the 
following specific comments on the present draft 
Directive. Specific comments 
Recitals 
Some of the recitals, particularly the fourth, fifth and 
sixth ones must be replaced by the following text in 
order to take account of the specific features of 
tourist assistance: 
'Whereas the above Directive should cover tourist 
assistance, which has certain similarities with 
insurance; whereas, however, account should be 
taken of the specific features of tourist 
assistance; 
Whereas certain forms of assistance which are 
provided most frequently in a number of Member 
States by motoring organizations and similar 
bodies should be excluded from the application of 
that Directive; 
Whereas an undertaking engaged in the business of 
tourist assistance must possess the means necessary 
for it to provide the benefits in kind which it 
proposes within an appropriate period of time; 
whereas special provisions should be laid down as 
regards financial guarantees, and in particular as 
regards technical reserves and solvency margins; 
Whereas certain transitional provisions are 
necessary in order to permit undertakings 
engaging solely in tourist assistance to adapt 
themselves to the application of the provisions of 
Directive 73/239/EEC 
Article 2 (2) 
The first sentence should be amended to read as 
follows: 
'Assistance shall not be excluded from the 
application of this Directive where the benefits 
involved are supplied in kind only, or where the 
person providing them does not use his own staff 
or own equipment.' 
The word 'immediately' is superfluous and should be 
deleted. 
Article 4 
In line with the general comments, Article 4 should 
be drafted so as to avoid confusing tourist assistance 
with insurance proper; tourist assistance should be 
31. 12. 81 Official Journal of the European Communities No C 343/11 
dealt with under a specific, separate heading to be 
incorporated in Annex A to the 1973 Directive. lower solvency margin than that specified in 
Article 16 of the first coordination Directive 
73/239/EEC. 
Article 8 
Given the specific features of tourist assistance 
activities as outlined in the general comments, the 
Committee asks that specific provision be made for a Articles 14 and 15 
The term 'assistance insurance' should be replaced by 
'tourist assistance'. 
Done at Brussels, 28 October 1981. 
The Chairman 
of the Economic and Social Committee 
Tomas ROSEINGRAVE 
APPENDIX 
to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee 
Rejected amendments 
The following amendments, tabled in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, were rejected 
during the course of discussions. 
Page 2, Section 2, first paragraph: 
Delete the phrase 'but considers that they would be better achieved through a specific 
Directive'. 
Result of the voting: 
For: 20, Against: 39, Abstentions: 16. 
Page 3, Section 3: 
Amend the third and fourth sentences as follows: 
Delete 'A specific Directive should be enacted for this area' (third sentence). Amend the fourth 
sentence to read: Tourist assistance should not however simply be lumped together with 
insurance'. 
Result of the voting: 
For: 18, Against: 50, Abstentions: 12. 
NoC 343/12 Official Journal of the European Communities 31. 12. 81 
Page 4: 
Before the specific comments on Article 2 (2) insert the following specific comment on Article 2 
(1): 
"The Committee proposes that this paragraph should be reworded as follows: 
1. This Directive covers: 
— the taking up of the self-employed activity of direct insurance by insurance undertakings 
which are established in a Member State or which wish to become established there, 
— the taking up of the self-employed activity of tourist assistance by insurance companies or 
assistance undertakings which are established in a Member State or which wish to become 
established there, 
— the pursuit of such activities. 
Result of the voting: 
For: 23, Against: 49, Abstentions: 12. 
Reasons for the three amendments 
The opinion endorses the objectives of the draft Directive, which seeks to regulate tourist assistance 
activities in order to protect consumers throughout the Community and also to harmonize the 
various relevant national provisions. There should also be agreement on the need to achieve these 
objectives swiftly in the interests of standardized legal procedures and in the interests of 
consumers. 
The Sections's prosposal that a specific Directive be enacted for tourist assistance would certainly 
hold up matters for four years since it would be necessary to draft a new parent Directive on tourist 
assistance firms in keeping with the first coordination Directive. 
Such a delay would be unwarranted and raises the question: Could all the specific issues covered 
by a seperate Directive not be dealt with by the present draft? 
The proposed amendment to page 10 which is taken from page 7 of the report takes specific 
account of this aspect by drawing a clear distinction between tourist assistance firms and insurance 
companies. 
In addition, the section 'Specific comments' have already detailed the areas which need to be 
tackled differently and the section's debates did not indicate any need for a specific Directive. 
We should moreover support all measures designed to ensure that we have a minimum number of 
comprehensive clear-cut Directives rather than a plethora of fragmented specific Directives.