Brussels, 01/08/2012 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 1 August 2012, the European Commission closed the anti-trust investigation it began in August 2010 (see EUROPE 10201) into certain provisions accompanying claim-sharing and joint reinsurance agreements in the marine insurance sector to see whether they broke EU competition rules (market-fixing and abuse of dominant positions). The investigation focussed on the International Group Agreement (IGA) and the Pooling Agreement between the P&I Clubs that contain rules on the sharing of insurance claims and joint reinsurance as well as rules on the contractual relationships between the P&I Clubs and their members. P&I Clubs are mutual non-profit making associations that provide Protection & Indemnity insurance - a type of direct marine insurance - to their members, the ship owners.
The aim of the procedure was to examine whether certain provisions of the agreements lessened competition between P&I Clubs and/or restricted, to a certain extent, the access of commercial insurers and/or other mutual P&I insurers to the relevant markets. The Commission says its investigation was not sufficiently conclusive to confirm the Commission's initial concerns. (FG/transl.fl)