2004/9/EC: Commission Decision of 5 November 2003 establishing the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Committee (Text with EEA relevance)
Date: 2003-11-05
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: advisory committee (EU), insurance, pension scheme

L 3/34

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

7.1.2004

COMMISSION DECISION

of 5 November 2003

establishing the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Committee

(Text with EEA relevance)

(2004/9/EC)

THE COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,

Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European
Community,

Whereas:

(1)

(2)

(3)

(4)

(5)

In June 2001, the Commission adopted Decisions 2001/
2001/528/EC (2)
527/EC (1)
the
Committee of European Securities Regulators and the
European Securities Committee respectively.

setting

and

up

endorsed

European Parliament

In its Resolutions of 5 February and 21 November 2002,
four-level
the
approach advocated in the
the
Committee of Wise Men on the regulation of European
securities markets and called for certain aspects of that
approach to be extended to the banking and insurance
sectors subject to a clear Council commitment to reform
to guarantee a proper institutional balance.

the
Final Report of

On 3 December 2002, the Council invited the Commis-
sion to implement such arrangements in the fields of
banking and insurance and occupational pensions and to
establish as soon as possible new committees in an advi-
sory capacity in relation to those fields.

Council Directive 91/675/EEC of 19 December 1991
setting up an Insurance Committee (3) established a
committee to advise the Commission in the development
of legislation in the insurance field.

The Commission has proposed a Directive modifying,
inter alia, Directive 91/675/EEC, 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 (4) as amended, Direc-
tive 2002/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 5 November 2002 concerning life assur-
ance (5), and Directive 2002/87/EC of
the European
Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2002 on
the supplementary supervision of credit
institutions,
insurance undertakings and investment firms in a finan-
cial conglomerate and amending Council Directives 73/
239/EEC, 79/267/EEC, 92/49/EEC, 92/96/EEC, 93/6/EEC
and 93/22/EEC, and Directives 98/78/EC and 2000/12/
EC of the European Parliament and the Council (6), to
delete
Insurance
functions
the
Committee.

advisory

the

of

(1) OJ L 191, 13.7.2001, p. 43.
(2) OJ L 191, 13.7.2001, p. 45.
(3) OJ L 374, 31.12.1991, p. 32.
(4) OJ L 228, 16.8.1973, p. 3.
(5) OJ L 345, 19.12.2002, p. 1.
(6) OJ L 35, 11.2.2003, p. 1.

(6)

(7)

(8)

Such an amendment requires the corresponding and
simultaneous creation of a new advisory group to advise
the Commission as regards the development of Com-
munity legislation in the insurance and occupational
pensions fields, hereafter called the ‘European Insurance
and Occupational Pensions Committee’.

To ensure this, this Decision should only come into
being at the same time as any Directive repealing the
purely advisory functions of the Insurance Committee.

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions
Committee should be competent to examine any ques-
tion relating to the application of Community provisions
concerning the fields of
insurance and occupational
pensions, and, in particular, should advise the Commis-
sion on new proposals for new legislation in those fields
which the Commission intends to present to the Euro-
pean Parliament and the Council; however in the occu-
pational pensions field,
the European Insurance and
Occupational Pensions Committee should not address
labour and social law aspects such as the organisation of
occupational regimes, in particular compulsory member-
ship and the results of collective bargaining agreements,

HAS DECIDED AS FOLLOWS:

Article 1

An advisory group on insurance and occupational pensions in
the Community, called the ‘European Insurance and Occupa-
is
tional Pensions Committee’
hereby established.

(hereinafter ‘the Committee’)

Article 2

1.
the
The Committee shall advise the Commission, at
Commission's request, on policy issues relating to insurance,
reinsurance and occupational pensions as well as Commission
proposals in these fields. The Committee shall examine any
question relating to the application of Community provisions
concerning the sectors of insurance, reinsurance and occupa-
tional pensions, and in particular Directives on insurance, rein-
surance and occupational pensions.

7.1.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

L 3/35

The Committee shall not consider specific problems
2.
relating to individual insurance or reinsurance undertakings or
to occupational pensions institutions.

The Committee shall not address labour and social law
3.
in
aspects such as the organisation of occupational regimes,
particular compulsory membership and the results of collective
bargaining agreements.

Article 3

1.
The Committee shall be composed of high level represen-
tatives of Member States. The Committee shall be chaired by a
representative of the Commission.

The chairperson of the Committee of European Insurance
2.
and Occupational Pensions Supervisors established by Commis-
sion Decision 2004/6/EC (1) shall participate at the meetings of
the Committee as an observer.

The Commission may invite experts and observers to

3.
attend its meetings.

The secretariat of the Committee shall be provided by the

4.
Commission.

5.

The Committee shall adopt its own rules of procedure.

Article 4

The Committee shall adopt its own rules of procedure. The
Committee shall meet at regular intervals and whenever the
situation demands. The Commission may convene an emer-
gency meeting if it considers that the situation so requires.

Article 5

This Decision shall enter into force on the same day as the
entry into force of any directive amending the purely advisory
functions of the Insurance Committee.

Done at Brussels, 5 November 2003.

For the Commission

Frederik BOLKESTEIN

Member of the Commission

(1) See page 30 of this Official Journal.