On 20 January 2016, the European Council adopted the Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD). The purpose of this directive was to create a level playing field among the distributors of insurance products, to strengthen the confidence of customers and to make regulatory treatment of the distribution of insurance products more uniform in order to ensure an adequate level of customer protection across the European Union.
The original transposition and entry into force deadline was 23 February 2018. In March 2018, the European Parliament delayed the transposition deadline until no later than 1st July 2018, and the entry into force deadline until 1st October 2018 at the latest.
Belgium, however, has not been able to implement the IDD into national law within these deadlines.
The transposition Act has been adopted last Wednesday in the plenary assembly of the Parliament. One amendment to the original draft was adopted. This amendment concerns the entry into force of the transposition Act. The amendment avoids the new Act having an effect on the past. The provisions of the Act will enter into force in accordance with the common law guideline, i.e. on the tenth day after the publication of the Act in the Belgian Official Gazette.
We will inform you as soon as the Act is published in the Belgian Official Gazette.
