Code of Massachusetts Regulations › 211 CMR - DIVISION OF INSURANCE › Title 211 CMR 79.00 - Private Passenger Motor Vehicle Insurance Rates › Section 79.08 - Activities of Insurers and Rating Organizations

Current through Register 1525, July 5, 2024
(1)
Prohibited Activity by
			 Insurers and Rating Organizations
.
(a) No Insurer or Rating Organization shall
			 monopolize or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other
			 person or persons to monopolize, in any territory, the business of private
			 passenger motor vehicle insurance or any kind, subdivision or class
			 thereof.
(b) No Insurer or Rating
			 Organization shall agree with any other Insurer or Rating Organization to
			 charge or adhere to any Rate, prospective loss cost, rating plan, rating
			 schedule, rating rule, policy or bond form, rate Classification Plan, rate
			 territory, underwriting rule, survey, inspection or similar material, except as
			 needed to exchange Statistical Information as authorized by the Commissioner.
			 In addition, a Rating Organization may establish advisory manuals of
			 Classification Plans, rules and Rates, rating plans or modifications of any of
			 the foregoing in any manner not prohibited by the Commissioner.
(c) No Insurer or Rating Organization shall
			 make any agreement with any other Insurer, Rating Organization or other person
			 that:
1.Restrains trade; or
2.Substantially lessens competition in any
			 territory or in any kind, subdivision or class of insurance.
(d) No Insurer may acquire or
			 retain any capital stock or assets of, or have any common management with, any
			 other Insurer or Insurers, if the effect of such acquisition, retention or
			 common management may be to substantially lessen competition in any territory
			 or in any kind, subdivision or class of insurance.
(e) No Insurer or Rating Organization shall
			 make any agreement with any other Insurer or Rating Organization to refuse to
			 deal with any person in connection with the sale of insurance.
(f) No Rating Organization or member or
			 subscriber thereof shall interfere with the right of any Insurer to make its
			 Rates independently of such Rating Organization or to charge Rates different
			 from the Rates filed by such Rating Organization.
(g) No member of or subscriber to a Rating
			 Organization shall refuse to do business with, or prohibit or prevent the
			 payment of commission to any licensed insurance producer on the ground that
			 such insurance producer does business with an Insurer which files its Rates, or
			 any portion thereof, independently of such Rating Organizations.
(h) Nothing in
			 211 CMR 79.00 shall be
			 construed as requiring any Insurer to become a member of or a subscriber to any
			 Rating Organization, or as preventing any Insurer, while a member of or
			 subscriber to a Rating Organization, from making its own Rates for any kind,
			 subdivision or class of insurance, for which it does not elect to authorize the
			 Rating Organization to act on its behalf.
(i) Any Insurer which is a member of or
			 subscriber to a Rating Organization may make its own Rates for any kind,
			 subdivision or class of insurance. No Rating Organization shall have authority
			 to act on behalf of any Insurer which is a member of or subscriber to such
			 Rating Organization except as authorized in writing by such member or
			 subscriber, which authority may be supplemented, modified or revoked, in whole
			 or in part, at any time by such member or subscriber at its option.
(j) No Rating Organization shall have or
			 adopt any rule or execute any agreement, or formulate or engage in any program,
			 the effect of which would be to require any member, subscriber or other Insurer
			 to utilize some or all of its services, or to adhere to its Rates, rating
			 plans, rating systems, underwriting rules, or policy forms, or to prevent any
			 Insurer from acting independently.
(k) Notwithstanding 211 CMR 79.08(6)(a), in a
			 Competitive Market no Rating Organization shall prepare or file an Advisory
			 Filing for any motor vehicle coverage subject to M.G.L. c. 175E, that includes
			 a coverage level rate that is based on the total loss experience of all
			 companies.