TITLE I

GENERAL RULES ON THE TAKING-UP AND PURSUIT OF DIRECT INSURANCE AND REINSURANCE ACTIVITIES
CHAPTER I

Subject matter, scope and definitions
Section 2

Exclusions from scope
Subsection 1

General

Exclusion from scope due to size
Article 4
1
Without prejudice to Article 3 and Articles 5 to 10, this Directive shall not apply to an insurance undertaking which fulfils all the following conditions:
a
the undertaking’s annual gross written premium income does not exceed EUR 5 million;
b
the total of the undertaking’s technical provisions, gross of the amounts recoverable from reinsurance contracts and special purpose vehicles, as referred to in Article 76, does not exceed EUR 25 million;
c
where the undertaking belongs to a group, the total of the technical provisions of the group defined as gross of the amounts recoverable from reinsurance contracts and special purpose vehicles does not exceed EUR 25 million;
d
the business of the undertaking does not include insurance or reinsurance activities covering liability, credit and suretyship insurance risks, unless they constitute ancillary risks within the meaning of Article 16(1);
e
the business of the undertaking does not include reinsurance operations exceeding EUR 0,5 million of its gross written premium income or EUR 2,5 million of its technical provisions gross of the amounts recoverable from reinsurance contracts and special purpose vehicles, or more than 10 % of its gross written premium income or more than 10 % of its technical provisions gross of the amounts recoverable from reinsurance contracts and special purpose vehicles.
2
If any of the amounts set out in paragraph 1 is exceeded for three consecutive years this Directive shall apply as from the fourth year.
3
By way of derogation from paragraph 1, this Directive shall apply to all undertakings seeking authorisation to pursue insurance and reinsurance activities of which the annual gross written premium income or technical provisions gross of the amounts recoverable from reinsurance contracts and special purpose vehicles are expected to exceed any of the amounts set out in paragraph 1 within the following five years.
4
This Directive shall cease to apply to those insurance undertakings for which the supervisory authority has verified that all of the following conditions are met:
a
none of the thresholds set out in paragraph 1 has been exceeded for the three previous consecutive years; and
b
none of the thresholds set out in paragraph 1 is expected to be exceeded during the following five years.
For as long as the insurance undertaking concerned pursues activities in accordance with Articles 145 to 149, paragraph 1 of this Article shall not apply.
5
Paragraphs 1 and 4 shall not prevent any undertaking from applying for authorisation or continuing to be authorised under this Directive.