The Insurance Accounts Directive (Miscellaneous Insurance Undertakings) Regulations 2008
| Year | 2008 |
2008 No. 565
Insurance
The Insurance Accounts Directive (Miscellaneous Insurance Undertakings) Regulations 2008
Made 26th February 2008
Laid before Parliament 5th March 2008
Coming into force 6th April 2008
The Secretary of State is a Minister designated1for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19722in relation to the creation, operation, regulation or dissolution of companies and other forms of business organisation, and in relation to auditors and the audit of accounts.
The Secretary of State makes the following Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by section 2(2) of that Act.
PART 1
INTRODUCTION
Citation, commencement and application
1.—(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Insurance Accounts Directive (Miscellaneous Insurance Undertakings) Regulations 2008.
(2) These Regulations come into force on 6th April 2008 and apply in relation to—
(a)
(a) insurance undertakings’ financial years beginning on or after that date, and
(b)
(b) auditors appointed in respect of those financial years.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations—
“the Companies Accounts Regulations” means the Large and Medium-sized Companies and Groups (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 20083;
“the appropriate audit authority” means—
(a) the Secretary of State, or
(b) if the Secretary of State has delegated functions under section 1252 of the Companies Act 20064to a body whose functions include receiving the equivalent notice under section 522 or 523 of that Act, that body;
“the Authority” means the Financial Services Authority5;
“director” includes, in the case of an undertaking which is not a company, any corresponding officer of that body;
“enactment” includes—
(a) an enactment contained in subordinate legislation, other than these Regulations,
(b) an enactment contained in, or in an instrument made under, an Act of the Scottish Parliament,
(c) an enactment contained in, or in an instrument made under, Northern Ireland legislation, and
(d) an enactment contained in, or in an instrument made under, a Measure or Act of the National Assembly for Wales;
“friendly society” has the same meaning as in the Financial Services and Markets Act 20006;
“industrial and provident society” means a registered society within the meaning of either section 74 of the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 19657or section 101 of the Industrial and Provident Societies Act (Northern Ireland) 19698;
“insurance undertaking” shall be construed in accordance with paragraphs (2) and (3).
(2) Subject to paragraph (3), a body incorporated in or formed under the law of any part of the United Kingdom is an insurance undertaking for the purposes of these Regulations if it—
(a)
(a) is incorporated by or registered under any public general Act of Parliament,
(b)
(b) requires permission under Part 4 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 to effect or carry out contracts of insurance without contravening the prohibition imposed by section 19 of that Act, and
(c)
(c) is not required by any enactment to prepare accounts under Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 (accounts and reports).
(3) Paragraph (2)(b) must be read with—
(a)
(a) section 22 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000,
(b)
(b) the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Regulated Activities) Order 20019,
(c)
(c) Schedule 2 to that Act.
(4) A body is not an insurance undertaking for the purposes of these Regulations if it—
(a)
(a) is excluded from the scope of Council Directive 73/239/EEC10by Article 3 of that Directive,
(b)
(b) is referred to in Article 3(2) to (6) of Directive 2002/83/ECof the European Parliament and of the Council of 5th November 2002 concerning life assurance11, or
(c)
(c) is a friendly society.
(5) Any reference in these Regulations to the accounts required by or prepared under regulation 3 are references to the annual accounts, the directors’ report and the auditor’s report required by or prepared under paragraph (1) of that regulation.
(6) Any reference in these Regulations to “financial year” in relation to an insurance undertaking means—
(a)
(a) any period in respect of which a profit and loss account, or in the case of an industrial and provident society, an annual return, of that undertaking is required to be made up by or in accordance with its constitution or by any enactment (whether that period is a year or not), or
(b)
(b) failing any such requirement, each period of 12 months beginning with 1st April.
(7) Except as otherwise provided in these Regulations, words and expressions used in the Companies Act 2006 have the same meaning in these Regulations as they have in that Act.
PART 2
ACCOUNTS
Preparation of accounts by insurance undertakings
3.—(1) The directors of an insurance undertaking must in respect of each financial year of the undertaking—
(a)
(a) prepare the like annual accounts and directors’ report, and
(b)
(b) cause to be prepared such an auditor’s report,
as would be required under the provisions mentioned in paragraph (3) if the undertaking were a company which is an insurance company or the parent company of an insurance group.
(2) The accounts required by this regulation must—
(a)
(a) be prepared within the period of 6 months beginning immediately after the end of the undertaking’s financial year,
(b)
(b) state that they are prepared under this regulation, and
(c)
(c) comply with such of the requirements of the provisions mentioned in paragraph (3) as relate to the contents of accounts or reports subject, where the insurance undertaking is unincorporated, to any necessary modifications to take account of that fact.
(3) The provisions referred to in paragraphs (1) and (2) are the following provisions of the Companies Act 2006 and the Companies Accounts Regulations—
(a)
(a) Chapters 4 and 5 of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 (accounts and reports),
(b)
(b) sections 433 (name of signatory to be stated in published copies of accounts and reports) and 436 (meaning of “publication” in relation to accounts and reports) of that Act as far as the latter section has effect for the purposes of section 433,
(c)
(c) section 469 of that Act (preparation and filing of accounts in euros),
(d)
(d) sections 475(1) (requirement for audited accounts), 495 (auditor’s report on annual accounts), 496 (auditor’s report on directors’ report), 498 (duties of auditor), 503 (signature of auditor’s report) and 505 (names to be stated in published copies of auditor’s report) of that Act,
(e)
(e) where Companies Act individual accounts are prepared, Schedule 3 to the Companies Accounts Regulations (insurance companies: Companies Act individual accounts) other than paragraphs 11, 62, 68, 70, 71, 72, 82(2), 83 and 84 and, in paragraph 2(2), the words from “save that none of the following” to the end,
(f)
(f) Schedule 4 to those Regulations (information on related undertakings required whether preparing Companies Act or IAS accounts) other than paragraphs 9 and 12,
(g)
(g) Schedule 5 to those Regulations (information about benefits of directors) other than paragraphs 2, 4 and 5,
(h)
(h) where Companies Act group accounts are prepared, Part 1 of Schedule 6 to the Companies Accounts Regulations (Companies Act group accounts: general rules) (as modified by Part 3 of that Schedule (modifications for insurance groups)) other than paragraphs 13(3) and (4), 14 and 15,
(i)
(i) paragraphs 6 and 7 of Schedule 7 to those Regulations (directors’ report).
(4) For the purposes of those provisions as applied to accounts prepared under this regulation, these Regulations are to be regarded as part of the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and the Companies Accounts Regulations.
(5) Regulations 5 and 6 of the Companies (Disclosure of Auditor Remuneration and Liability Limitation Agreements) Regulations 200812apply in relation to the accounts required by this regulation as they apply in relation to the annual accounts of a company or group which is not a small or medium-sized company or group.
Publication of accounts
4.—(1) An insurance undertaking must—
(a)
(a) make available the latest accounts and reports prepared under regulation 3 for inspection by any person, without charge and during business hours, at the undertaking’s head office in the United Kingdom, and
(b)
(b) supply to any person upon request a copy of those accounts (or such part of those accounts as may be requested) at a price not exceeding the administrative cost of making the copy.
(2) In the case of industrial and provident societies which are insurance undertakings, the obligation in paragraph (1) (b) is subject to the provisions of section 39(5) of the Industrial and Provident Societies Act 1965 or section 48(6) of the Industrial and Provident Societies Act (Northern Ireland) 1969, as the case may be.
Penalties for non-compliance (accounts)
5.—(1) If the directors of an insurance undertaking fail to comply with paragraph (1) of regulation 3 within the period referred to in paragraph (2) of that regulation, an offence is committed by every person who, immediately before the end of that period, was a director of the undertaking.
(2) If accounts and reports which are made available for inspection under regulation 4(1) do not comply with the requirements of regulation 3, an offence is committed by every person who, at the time when the accounts and reports were or the account was first made available for inspection, was a director of the insurance undertaking.
(3) If an insurance undertaking fails to comply with regulation 4(1) an offence is committed by—
(a)
(a) the insurance undertaking, and
(b)
(b) every director of the insurance undertaking who is in default.
(4) Where the affairs of an insurance undertaking are managed by its members, any reference in this regulation to a...
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