Insurance Europe has today published its high-level views in response to a consultation by the European Commission on an intra-EU investment protection and facilitation initiative.
A stable and favourable investment environment with clear rules,
effective remedies and measures to facilitate access to investment
opportunities is crucial and is in line with the objectives of flagship
initiatives, such as the Capital Markets Union (CMU) project.
In particular, there should be no sudden and retroactive changes
to local investment frameworks. In recent years, (re)insurers have
witnessed unfortunate violations of investor rights in relation to
long-term investments in, for example, infrastructure and renewable
energy.
Examples include retroactive reductions in feed-in tariffs and
retroactive taxation of photovoltaic plants in Spain, the Czech Republic
and Italy in 2014, as well as a 90% reduction of the usage fees for the
Gassled pipeline network in Norway in 2016.
As a consequence, some (re)insurers decided to refrain from further
investing in markets where they have incurred losses on their
investments due to retroactive changes to legislation without
grandfathering rights.
To facilitate future investment, it is therefore vital that investors
are able to rely on the fact that relevant investment conditions will
continue to exist after the time of the investment decision. In the
event of (retroactive) changes to the legal framework, adequate
grandfathering rules must ensure legal certainty.
Cross-border investors in the EU also face problems in certain member
states in enforcing their rights and obtaining a remedy. In some cases,
investors are likely to have no other option than to bring the matter
before a national court, which in turn may lead to dispute escalation.
This can lead to increased costs, damage to the company’s relationship
with public authorities and even the eventual withdrawal of investments.
While better enforcement on investment rules by member states can
help improve the issues faced by investors, consideration of further
actions at EU level may be needed to address existing challenges. This
is not to question the jurisdiction of EU member states. Rather, it is a
matter of simple and effective legal protection for foreign investors
in the event of violations of investor rights.
In addition, EU investors should not be disadvantaged when it comes
to legal protection compared to investors from third countries. It is
vital to ensure a level-playing field between EU and non-EU investors
and the effectiveness of procedural guarantees granted to investors.
high-level views
Insurance Europe
© InsuranceEurope
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