Block exemption undergoes makeover

The European Commission has confirmed that it intends to limit the scope of the existing block exemption that has protected insurers from breaching certain European competition rules in the course of their business for seven years. In a new consultation on its revised legislation for the insurance sector, the European Commission will only renew two of the four existing exemptions and furthermore it has significantly reworked the two exemptions it proposes to renew in March 2010, when the current block exemption is due to expire.