Insurance Companies Amendment Act 1973

Miscellaneous

36 Documents deposited with Secretary of State

(1) The Secretary of State shall deposit with the registrar of companies one copy of—

(a) any document deposited with the Secretary of State under section 8 of the Act of 1958, including any document obtained under subsection (2) of that section ;

(b) any document deposited with him under section 18(4) or 27(5) above.

(2) Subject to subsection (3) below, any document deposited under this section or section 5(5) or 6(3) above with the registrar of companies shall be open to inspection and copies thereof may be procured by any person on payment of such fees as the Secretary of State may direct.

(3) Subsection (2) above shall not apply to any document if it is a copy of a document in respect of which a dispensation has been granted under section 76(1) of the Act of 1967 (exemption from obligation to supply certain information to shareholders and policy holders).

(4) Every document deposited with the Secretary of State under the Act of 1958 or this Act and certified by the registrar of companies to be a document so deposited shall be deemed to be a document so deposited ; and every document purporting to be certified by the registrar of companies to be a copy of a document so deposited shall be deemed to be a copy of that document and shall be received in evidence as if it were the original document unless some variation between it and the original is proved.

37 Treatment of certain business as or as not being ordinary long-term insurance business

(1) The Secretary of State may, on the application or with the consent of an insurance company to which the Act of 1958 applies, by order direct that for the purposes of the application to the company of all or any of the provisions to which this section applies—

(a) business of a kind specified in the order, not being ordinary long-term insurance business, shall be treated as being such business; or

(b) ordinary long-term insurance business of a kind so specified shall be treated as not being such business.

(2) An order under subsection (1)(b) above may direct that the business specified in the order shall be treated as falling within a specified class of insurance business relevant for the purposes of Part II of the Act of 1967.

(3) An order under this section may be subject to conditions and may be varied or revoked at any time by the Secretary of State.

(4) The provisions to which this section applies are sections 3, 5, 7 to 10, 18, 28(4) to (6), 30 and 31 above and the following provisions of the Act of 1958, that is to say, section 4 (annual accounts and balance sheets), section 5 (periodic investigation of certain companies by actuary), section 7 (company's annual statement of certain classes of business) and section 13 (margin of solvency for general business).

38 Power to modify Acts in relation to particular companies

(1) The Secretary of State may, on the application or with the consent of an insurance company to which the Act of 1958 applies, by order direct that all or any of the provisions to which this section applies shall not apply to the company or shall apply to it with such modifications as may be specified in the order.

(2) An order under this section may be subject to conditions.

(3) An order under this section may be revoked at any time by the Secretary of State ; and the Secretary of State may at any time vary any such order on the application or with the consent of the company to which it applies.

(4) The provisions to which this section applies are sections 3 to 11 and 28(4) to (6) above, sections 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 13 of the Act of 1958, the provisions of regulations made for the purposes of any of those sections and the provisions of any valuation regulations.

(5) In relation to section 10 above, subsection (1) above shall have effect as if the reference to an insurance company to which the Act of 1958 applies included a reference to any subordinate company within the meaning of that section of any such insurance company.

39 Application of Acts in relation to industrial assurance business

(1) The power to make regulations for the purposes of section 3(2) above, section 4 of the Act of 1958 so far as it relates to revenue accounts, section 5 of that Act so far as it relates to the form of abstracts and statements and section 7 of that Act shall, in relation to industrial assurance business, be exercisable by the Industrial Assurance Commissioner.

(2) Section 8 of the Act of 1958 shall have effect in relation to any document which relates to industrial assurance business as if references in that section to the Secretary of State included references to the Commissioner.

(3) Where any document required to be deposited by a company under subsection (4) of section 18 above relates to industrial assurance business the company shall also, within the time required under that subsection, deposit one copy of that document with the Commissioner.

(4) Where any business proposed to be transferred as mentioned in section 26 above is or includes industrial assurance business that section and section 27(5) above shall have effect as if references to the Secretary of State included references to the Commissioner.

(5) The power to make orders under section 38 above as respects section 3 above, section 4 of the Act of 1958 so far as it relates to revenue accounts, sections 5, 7 and 8 of that Act and the provisions of regulations made for the purposes of any of those sections (other than valuation regulations) shall, in relation to industrial assurance business, be exercisable by the Commissioner.

40 Application of Acts to organisations of workers or employers

In section 1(5A)(a) of the Act of 1958 and section 60(1)(e) of the Act of 1967 (which respectively exempt from the Act of 1958 and the authorisation requirements of the Act of 1967 a trade union or an employers' association within the meaning of the [1971 c. 72.] Industrial Relations Act 1971 whose insurance business is limited to the provision of certain benefits for its members) for the words " a trade union or an employers' association within the meaning of the Industrial Relations Act 1971 " there shall be substituted the words " an organisation of workers within the meaning of the Industrial Relations Act 1971 (including an organisation for the time being entered in the special register maintained under section 84 of that Act) or an organisation of employers within the meaning of that Act ".

41 Insurance advertisements

(1) Regulations may be made as to the form and contents of insurance advertisements.

(2) Regulations under this section may make different provision in relation to insurance advertisements of different classes or descriptions.

(3) Subject to subsection (4) below, any person who issues an insurance advertisement which contravenes regulations under this section shall be guilty of an offence.

(4) A person who in the ordinary course of his business issues an advertisement to the order of another person, being an advertisement the issue of which by that other person constitutes an offence under subsection (3) above, shall not himself be guilty of the offence if he proves that the matters contained in the advertisement were not (wholly or in part) devised or selected by him or by any person under his direction or control.

(5) In this section " insurance advertisement" means an advertisement inviting persons to enter into or to offer to enter into contracts of insurance, and an advertisement which contains information calculated to lead directly or indirectly to persons entering into or offering to enter into such contracts shall be treated as an advertisement inviting them to do so.

(6) In this section " advertisement" includes every form of advertising, whether in a publication or by the display of notices or by means of circulars or other documents or by an exhibition of photographs or cinematograph films or by way of sound broadcasting or television, and references to the issue of an advertisement shall be construed accordingly.

(7) For the purposes of this section an advertisement issued by any person on behalf of or to the order of another person shall be treated as an advertisement issued by that other person ; and for the purposes of any proceedings under this section an advertisement inviting persons to enter into or to offer to enter into contracts with a person specified in the advertisement shall be presumed, unless the contrary is proved, to have been issued by that person.

42 Misleading statements etc. inducing person to enter into contract of insurance

Any person who, by any statement, promise or forecast which he knows to be misleading, false or deceptive, or by any dishonest concealment of material facts, or by the reckless making (dishonestly or otherwise) of any statement, promise or forecast which is misleading, false or deceptive, induces or attempts to induce another person to enter into or offer to enter into any contract of insurance with an insurance company shall be guilty of an offence.

43 Intermediaries in insurance transactions

(1) Regulations may be made for requiring any person who—

(a) invites another person to make an offer or proposal or to take any other step with a view to entering into a contract of insurance with an insurance company; and

(b) is connected with that company as provided in the regulations,

to give the prescribed information with respect to his connection with the company to the person to whom the invitation is issued.

(2) Regulations may be made for requiring any person who, in the course of carrying on any business or profession, issues any such invitation as is mentioned in subsection (1)(a) above in relation to an insurance company which is not an authorised insurer in respect of the contract in question to inform the person to whom the invitation is issued that the company is not such an insurer as aforesaid.

In this subsection " authorised insurer ", in relation to a contract of any description, means a person entitled to carry on in Great Britain insurance business of a class comprising the effecting of contracts of that description.

(3) Regulations under this section may make different provision in relation to different cases or circumstances.

(4) Any person who contravenes regulations under this section shall be guilty of an offence.

44 Statutory notice by insurer in relation to long term policy

(1) Subject to subsection (5) below, no insurance company to which the Act of 1958 applies and no member of Lloyd's or of any other association of underwriters approved for the purposes of Part II of the Act of 1967 by the Secretary of State shall enter into a contract of a kind mentioned in section 59(6) of the Act of 1967 (long term insurance contracts) unless that company or member (" the insurer ") either—

(a) has sent by post to the other party to the contract a statutory notice in relation to that contract; or

(b) does so at the time when the contract is entered into.

(2) For the purposes of this section a statutory notice is a notice which—

(a) contains such matters (and no others) and is in such form as may be prescribed for the purposes of this section and complies with such requirements (whether as to type, size, colour or disposition of lettering, quality or colour of paper, or otherwise) as may be prescribed for securing that the notice is easily legible ; and

(b) has annexed to it a form of notice of cancellation of the prescribed description for use under section 45 below.

(3) Regulations made for the purposes of subsection (2) above may make different provision—

(a) in relation to contracts of different classes or descriptions ;

(b) in relation to cases where the statutory notice is sent before the contract is entered into and in relation to other cases;

and the Secretary of State may, on the application of any insurer, alter the requirements of any regulations made for the purposes of subsection (2)(a) above so as to adapt those requirements to the circumstances of that insurer or to any particular kind of contract proposed to be entered into by that insurer.

(4) Any insurer who contravenes this section shall be guilty of an offence but, without prejudice to section 45(2) below, no contract shall be invalidated by reason of the fact that the insurer has contravened this section in relation to that contract.

(5) Subsection (1) of this section does not apply to any contract the effecting of which by the insurer constitutes the carrying on of industrial assurance business; and regulations may exempt from that subsection contracts of any other class or description.

(6) In sections 45 and 46 below " insurer " and " statutory notice " have the same meaning as in this section.

45 Right to withdraw from transaction in respect of long term policy

(1) A person who has received a statutory notice from an insurer in relation to any contract to which section 44(1) above applies may before the expiration of—

(a) the tenth day after that on which he received the notice ; or

(b) the earliest day on which he knows both that the contract has been entered into and that the first or only premium has been paid,

whichever is the later, serve a notice of cancellation on the insurer.

(2) A person to whom an insurer ought to have, but has not, sent a statutory notice in relation to any such contract as aforesaid may serve a notice of cancellation on the insurer ; but if the insurer sends him a statutory notice in relation to that contract before he has served a notice of cancellation under this subsection, then, without prejudice to his right to serve a notice of cancellation under subsection (1) above, his right to do so under this subsection shall cease.

(3) A notice of cancellation may, but need not, be in the form annexed to the statutory notice and shall have effect if, however expressed, it indicates the intention of the person serving it to withdraw from the transaction in relation to which the statutory notice was or ought to have been sent.

(4) Where a person serves a notice of cancellation, then—

(a) if at the time when the notice is served the contract has been entered into, the notice shall operate so as to rescind the contract;

(b) in any other case, the service of the notice shall operate as a withdrawal of any offer to enter into the contract which is contained in, or implied by, any proposal made to the insurer by the person serving the notice of cancellation and as notice to the insurer that any such offer is withdrawn.

(5) Where a notice of cancellation operates to rescind a contract or as the withdrawal of an offer to enter into a contract—

(a) any sum which the person serving the notice has paid in connection with the contract (whether by way of premium or otherwise and whether to the insurer or to a person who is the agent of the insurer for the purpose of receiving that sum) shall be recoverable from the insurer by the person serving the notice ;

(b) any sum which the insurer has paid under the contract shall be recoverable by him from the person serving the notice.

(6) Any sum recoverable under subsection (5) above shall be recoverable as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.

46 Service of notice of cancellation

(1) For the purposes of section 45 above a notice of cancellation—

(a) shall be deemed to be served on the insurer if it is sent by post addressed to any person specified in the statutory notice as a person to whom a notice of cancellation may be sent, and is addressed to that person at an address so specified ; and

(b) where paragraph (a) above applies, shall be deemed to be served on the insurer at the time when it is posted.

(2) Subsection (1) above shall have effect without prejudice to the service of a notice of cancellation (whether by post or otherwise) in any way in which the notice could be served apart from that subsection, whether the notice is served on the insurer or on a person who is the agent of the insurer for the purpose of receiving such a notice.

(3) A notice of cancellation which is sent by post to a person at his proper address, otherwise than in accordance with subsection (1) above, shall be deemed to be served on him at the time when it is posted.

(4) So much of section 26 of the [1889 c. 63.] Interpretation Act 1889 as relates to the time when service is deemed to have been effected shall not apply to a notice of cancellation.

47 Linked long term policies

(1) Regulations may be made, as respects the matters specified in subsection (2) below, in relation to contracts of the kinds mentioned in section 59(6) of the Act of 1967 (long term insurance contracts) which—

(a) are entered into by insurance companies to which the Act of 1958 applies or by members of Lloyd's or of any other association of underwriters approved for the purposes of Part II of the Act of 1967 by the Secretary of State; and

(b) are contracts under which the benefits payable to the policy holder are wholly or partly to be determined by reference to the value of, or the income from, property of any description (whether or not specified in the contract) or by reference to fluctuations in, or in an index of, the value of property of any description (whether or not so specified).

(2) Regulations under this section may make provision for—

(a) restricting the descriptions of property or the indices of the value of property by reference to which benefits under the contracts may be determined;

(b) regulating the manner in which and the frequency with which property of any description is to be valued for the purpose of determining such benefits and the times at which reference is to be made for that purpose to any index of the value of property ;

(c) requiring insurers under the contracts to appoint valuers for carrying out valuations of property of any description for the purpose of determining such benefits (being valuers who comply with the prescribed requirements as to qualifications and independence from the insurer) and to furnish the Secretary of State with the prescribed information in relation to such appointments;

(d) requiring insurers under the contracts to furnish, in such manner and at such times or intervals as may be prescribed, such information relating to the value of the benefits under the contracts as may be prescribed, whether by sending notices to policy holders, depositing statements with the Secretary of State or the registrar of companies, publication in the press or otherwise;

(e) requiring insurers under the contracts to furnish to the Secretary of State, in such manner and at such times or intervals as may be prescribed, such information certified in such manner as may be prescribed with respect to so much of their business as is concerned with the contracts or with any class or description of the. contracts, and enabling the Secretary of State to publish such information in such ways as he thinks appropriate.

(3) Regulations made for the purposes of subsection (2)(d) above may, in relation to notices required to be sent to policy holders, impose requirements (whether as to type, size, colour or disposition of lettering, quality or colour of paper, or otherwise) for securing that such notices are easily legible.

(4) Regulations under this section may make different provision in relation to different cases or circumstances; and the Secretary of State may, on the application of any insurer, alter the requirements of any regulations under this section so as to adapt those requirements to the circumstances of that insurer or to any particular kind of contract entered into or proposed to be entered into by that insurer.

(5) Regulations under this section may, to such extent as may be specified therein, apply in relation to contracts entered into before the coming into operation of the regulations, including contracts entered into before the passing of this Act.

(6) Regulations under this section shall not apply in relation to any contract the effecting of which by the insurer constitutes the carrying on of industrial assurance business or to any contract entered into by an insurance company to which the Act of 1958 applies by reason only that the policy holder is eligible to participate in any established surplus as defined in section 9(4) above.

48 Scope of Prevention of Fraud (Investments) Act 1958

The agreements and arrangements mentioned in section 13(1) of the [1958 c. 45.] Prevention of Fraud (Investments) Act 1958 (misleading statements etc. inducing persons to invest money) and in the definition of " dealing in securities " in section 26(1) of that Act shall not include contracts of insurance.

49 Validation of formation of certain pre-1967 insurance companies

(1) Section 434 of the [1948 c. 38.] Companies Act 1948 (which in certain cases forbids the formation otherwise than under that Act of a company, association or partnership consisting of more than twenty persons) shall be deemed not to have invalidated the formation of any insurance company which immediately before 3rd November 1966 was carrying on in Great Britain insurance business of any class relevant for the purposes of Part II of the Act of 1967 and is carrying on business of that class at the passing of this Act.

(2) In subsection (1) above the reference to the said section 434 includes a reference to any corresponding enactment previously in force.

50 Validation of certain group policies

(1) Section 2 of the [1774 c. 48.] Life Assurance Act 1774 (policy on life or lives or other event or events not valid unless name or names of assured etc. inserted when policy is made) shall not invalidate a policy for the benefit of unnamed persons from time to time falling within a specified class or description if the class or description is stated in the policy with sufficient particularity to make it possible to establish the identity of all persons who at any given time are entitled to benefit under the policy.

(2) This section applies to policies effected before the passing of this Act as well as to policies effected thereafter.

51 Withdrawal of statutory deposits by collecting societies

The repeal by the Act of 1967 of subsection (2) of section 20 of the Act of 1958 (withdrawal of statutory deposits by insurance companies which satisfy the Board of Trade as to paid up share capital or margin of solvency) shall be deemed not to have extended to that subsection in its application to collecting societies as defined in section 1 of the [1923 c. 8.] Industrial Assurance Act 1923 ; and in its application to such societies that subsection shall have effect and be deemed always to have had effect as if for the reference to the Board of Trade there were substituted a reference to the Industrial Assurance Commissioner.