Insurance Europe: Commission’s Single Market Information Tool proposal should be withdrawn

25 September 2017

Insurance Europe has published a position paper on the European Commission’s proposals for a Single Market Information Tool (SMIT), where it raised serious concerns and called for the proposal to be withdrawn.

The SMIT proposal means that companies would be obligated to provide sensitive data on request to the Commission. This data could then be used in infringement proceedings against member states and for policy development. Failure to adhere to the requests could lead to significant penalties or fines for firms that refused.  

Insurance Europe warned that these sanctions are extremely disproportionate and are targeted at the wrong party. Insurance Europe also has several other serious concerns about the SMIT proposal, which suffers from a lack of:

• Proportionality in its scope.
• Justification for and proportionality in its sanctions.
• Safeguards for the data supplied and its confidentiality.
• A satisfactory legal basis, while disregarding the division of competences between the EU and member states.

Insurance Europe therefore urged the Commission to withdraw the proposal, as the need for the SMIT has not been substantiated and its scope is disproportionate to the policy objectives it seeks to achieve.

Position paper

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