Freedom to provide services (Art. 4 and 5 IDD)

Before insurance undertakings can start business in another Member State on the basis of the freedom to provide services, they have to comply with the notification obligations foreseen under Articles 147 and 148 of Solvency II. Before insurance intermediaries can take up activities of insurance distribution, they need to be registered with a competent authority in their home Member State (Article 3(1) of the IDD) and have to possess appropriate knowledge and ability in order to complete their tasks and perform their duties adequately (Article 10(1) of the IDD). Insurance undertakings and insurance intermediaries that manufacture insurance products that are offered for sale to customers ('manufacturers'), have to comply with the product oversight and governance requirements foreseen under Article 25 of the IDD and Commission Delegated Regulation 2017/2358. Where an insurance intermediary and an insurance undertaking are both manufacturers, they have to sign a written agreement which specifies their collaboration as provided for in Article 3(4) of the Commission Delegated Regulation 2017/2358. Neither the IDD nor Commission Delegated Regulation 2017/2358 include any provisions that generally restrict the co-manufacturing of insurance products to collaborations between domestically authorised insurance undertakings and insurance intermediaries or between those who are authorised to pursue business under the FoE or FoS.