Brussels, 21/03/2002 (Agence Europe) - On Thursday the European Commission decided to refer France and Luxembourg to the Court of Justice regarding their compulsory non-claims bonus systems for third-party motor insurance. The third non-life insurance directive abolished prior or systematic approval of pricing scales and policies, including motor insurance. The Commission therefore considers that mandatory non-claims bonus systems are in breach of the freedom to market insurance products under the directive insofar as they have automatic and mandatory repercussions on premiums. However, the Commission does not dispute the Member States' right to introduce a scale that takes into account the damage caused by policyholders or even a uniform non-claims bonus system. However, other systems allow account to be taken of policyholders' past records without including any tariff elements, for example, by way of step-based no-claims bonus systems that do not impose any mandatory rebate/surcharge coefficient.