WRITTEN QUESTION E-3473/00 by John Bowis (PPE-DE) to the Commission. Lloyd's of London.
Date: 2000-11-08
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: application of the law, complaint to the Commission, insurance, insurance occupation, petition

C 163 E/132

Official Journal of the European Communities

EN

6.6.2001

(2001/C 163 E/146)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3473/00

by John Bowis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

(8 November 2000)

Subject: Lloyd(cid:146)s of London

When does the Commission expect to respond to the petitions and complaints, that it has received in and
from 1997, about Lloyd(cid:146)s of London and under what European Union legislation are these matters being
considered?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(21 December 2000)

The Commission has received since 1999 a substantial volume of complaints from disaffected Lloyd(cid:146)s
Names alleging that the British authorities have failed to properly supervise Lloyd(cid:146)s. The Commission has
also received four petitions, one of them tabled in 1997.

The Commission is taking very seriously the matters identified by the petitioners and the large number of
complaints it has received. As already explained in its response submitted to the petitions committee at its
hearing on 27 and 28 September, 1999, the Commission confirmed that the United Kingdom has
correctly implemented the first Council Directive 73/239/EEC of 24 July 1973 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 assurance (1)
in British law. The Commission(cid:146)s current enquiries are
therefore seeking to establish whether the implementing law has been properly applied.

(1) OJ L 228, 16.8.1973.

(2001/C 163 E/147)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-3474/00

by Robert Goebbels (PSE) to the Commission

(8 November 2000)

Subject: Publication of proposals for directives by the Commission

The Commission recently adopted the proposal for a directive on occupational pension institutions
(COM(2000) 507). Can the Commission explain how it was possible for this proposal, which was adopted
on the morning of 11 October 2000, to be commented on in all its details in a speech written in advance
by the chairman of the EFRP (European Federation for Retirement Provision), Mr Kees van Rees, at a
meeting of the Financial Services Forum held at 1 p.m. that same day in a hotel in Brussels?

Is it normal practice for interested parties to have access to proposals for directives before they have been
formally adopted by the Commission?

At any rate the MEPs present at that meeting were less well briefed than the lobbyists.

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(11 December 2000)

At an informal meeting with members of the economic and monetary affairs committee (EMAC) that took
place on 5 October 2000, the Member responsible for the internal market gave a presentation of the draft
proposal for a directive on institutions for occupational retirement provision that was due to be adopted
by the Commission. As the Honourable Member says, the Commission adopted the proposal for a directive
on institutions for occupational retirement provision in the morning of 11 October 2000 (1). This followed
a long and intensive consultation process with all
interested parties. Bilateral contacts between the
Commission and experts from Member States, the Parliament and other interested parties were held in
the period up to the adoption of the draft directive.