Recently the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC) brought out amended measures for supervising China-based foreign insurance organizations and announced that new measures will be officially implemented from March 1 this year.

The existing measures for supervising China-based foreign insurance organizations have been enacted since December 1999. To make measures keep up with the pace of times and in accord with the changing economy and policy surrounding China's insurance market, the CIRC amended these measures, aiming to address new problems appearing during the course of supervising and managing China-based foreign insurance organizations.

Foreign insurance organizations in the amended measures refer to insurance companies, reinsurance companies, insurance intermediary institutions, insurance associations and other related organizations. All are supposed to be registered overseas or outside China.

The new measures specifically point out that the CIRC set up regulatory bureaus in the provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities and cities. And the regulatory bureaus should shoulder the management of all agent offices stationed in various localities. In addition, the annual report of every foreign insurance organization should be handed into the CIRC and its representative offices respectively within six months of the Fiscal Year end.

In light of the promises given by China when it entered World Trade Organization (WTO), the measures give a deadline for examination and approval, with a limit of 20 days from completed application materials being accepted. If undecided by the deadline, and affirmed by the chairman of the CIRC, it may be extended by 10 days. The measures also regulate the extension of the such agency offices is no longer subject to examination and approval. In case of a change in address, staff replacement, agency offices need only report afterwards instead of awaiting examination and approval.

At the same time, the amended measures set the details of punishment rules from the CIRC. As follows: if an agency office goes into insurance business with rule violations, they will be investigated by the CIRC; warnings will be given out to offices running business beyond insurance and serious cases will be fined a minimum of 30,000 yuan. Meanwhile, according to the circumstances of each case, the responsible staff members will be punished by the CIRC.

These new measures also apply to the mainland agent offices of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan insurance organizations.

(China.org.cn by Wang Ruyue February 11, 2004)