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Since its inception, one of the main raisons d'être of the Insurance and Private Pensions Committee has been to develop international co-operation in the insurance field and, above all, the liberalisation of the establishment and cross-border operations of insurance companies. This aim has been pursued in close co-operation with the Investment Committee, which is the "watchdog" for the two OECD Liberalisation Codes: the Code of Liberalisation of Current Invisible Operations and the Code of Liberalisation of Capital Movements.
One of the key priorities of work in this area in recent years has been the revision of the insurance provisions of the Code of Liberalisation of Current Invisible Operations. In 2004, the Council agreed on revisions to the Code which, in addition to clarifying and broadening the insurance provisions of the Code, introduced new obligations in private pensions. Members subsequently conducted an examination of country reservations in respect of the new and existing insurance and private pensions provisions of the Code. Consistent with the “peer review” practice under the Code, Members had to justify the introduction of any new reservations. Reflective of domestic liberalisation efforts, a number of countries limited or eliminated reservations. The results and conclusions of this seventh examination process are set out in the Report on the Seventh Examination of Members’ Reservations to the Insurance and Private Pensions Provisions of the Code, approved by the Council on 19 February 2008.
These liberalisation efforts form part of a general policy of expanding co-operation in the insurance field that the Insurance and Private Pensions Committee has been keen to promote. This co-operation can be formalised as in the case of the Recommendation establishing a common classification of the classes of insurance or another Recommendation putting forward suggestions as to formal methods of co-operation between supervisory authorities. However, one of the other major benefits of the Committee's meetings is the scope for informal contacts. The opportunity for ministerial and supervisory authorities of Member countries to meet together in the OECD and address policy and regulatory issues is of considerable value in promoting the genuine development of co-operation between Member countries.
See also the following publications:
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