News comment - Mediation altercation.

(From Post Magazine)

With nine countries still to adopt the Insurance Mediation Directive, and France claiming it does not need to, David Worsfold reports on the tough measures the European Commission is planning to take.

European Commission officials are talking tough when it comes to dealing with those countries dragging their heels over the implementation of the Insurance Mediation Directive. This was the message they stressed to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Insurance and Financial Services in Brussels last week.

A delegation from the group, led by chairman John Greenway and joined by representatives of the Chartered Institute of Loss Adjusters, met officials from the Internal Market Directorate and MEPs, as well as the influential Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes, to press the case for the creation of a genuine level playing field for intermediated services.

Legal threat

In October, the Internal Market Directorate wrote to 10 countries that had not incorporated the directive into national law. One of these, Italy, has since done so and Holland is set for January, leaving eight outstanding: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Malta and Portugal.

"We are not very happy with member states on this issue," a Commission official said. "We believe five or six of the member states we have written to are likely to implement it in the first quarter of next year. The remaining states will be chased up in the new year and will have two months to respond. If they do not respond with an acceptable timetable a case will be sent to the European Court of Justice."