The Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Law Applicable to Contracts of Insurance) Regulations 2009

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations concern the application of Regulation (EC) No. 593/2008 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the law applicable to contractual obligations (Rome I) to contracts of insurance (“the Rome I Regulation”). The Rome I Regulation establishes uniform choice of law rules in the field of contractual obligations between Member States.

The amendments made in regulation 2 limit the application of the provisions on the law applicable to contracts of insurance contained in the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 (Law Applicable to Contracts of Insurance) Regulations 2001 (S.I. 2001/2635) to contracts of insurance entered into before 17th December 2009, the date on which the Rome I Regulation comes into force.

Regulation 3 extends the application of the Rome I Regulation to conflicts between the laws of England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, or between the laws of any of the foregoing and Gibraltar, that it would not otherwise apply to.

Regulation 4 makes provision permitted by the third subparagraph of Article 7(3) of the Rome I Regulation, allowing parties to contracts insuring risks other than large risks greater freedom of choice of law applicable than would otherwise be available to them under that Article where the risk is situated in the United Kingdom (Article 7(3)(a)), the policyholder has their habitual residence in the United Kingdom (Article 7(3)(b)) or the policyholder carries on a business, trade or profession and the insurance contract covers two or more risks which relate to that business which are situated in different Member States, and the United Kingdom is one of those States or the country of habitual residence of the policyholder (Article 7(3)(e)).

Regulation 5 specifies that where the risk is covered by Community co-insurance, as defined by Council Directive 78/473/EEC on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to Community co-insurance (OJ L 151, 7.6.78, p.25) the leading insurer is to be treated as the only insurer.