We have noted that websites comparing insurance products contain hyperlinks leading to a variety of pages on the websites of insurance undertakings or insurance intermediaries. A large proportion of the analysed  websites offers  compilations  of insurance  products  ranking lists, including  price  and product  comparison,  or a  discount  on the  price  of an  insurance  contract and therefore  mention  hyperlinks leading  to  home pages  or  generic product  pages  of insurance undertakings’ or insurance intermediaries’ websites.

Article 2, paragraph 1, 1), of the IDD defines the notion of “insurance distribution” as “the activities of advising  on, proposing,  or  carrying out  other  work preparatory  to  the conclusion  of  contracts of insurance, of concluding such contracts, or of assisting in the administration and performance of such contracts, in particular in the event of a claim, including the provision of information concerning one or more insurance contracts in accordance with criteria selected by customers through a website or other media  and  the compilation  of  an insurance  product  ranking list,  including  price and  product comparison, or a discount on the price of an insurance contract, when the customer is able to directly or indirectly conclude an insurance contract using a website or other media;” (our underlining).

Based on this definition and the way it is presented in recital 12 of IDD, such websites are considered to be a form of insurance distribution, if:

(1) the activity consists of either the provision of information on insurance contracts in response to criteria selected by the customer, or the provision of a ranking of insurance products, including price and product comparison, or a discount on the price of an insurance product,

(2) and, in addition, the customer is given the  opportunity  to directly  or  indirectly conclude  an insurance contract at the end of the process.

We consider that this second criterion (point (2)) is met when such websites (or other electronic media) facilitate the conclusion of a specific insurance contract:

(i) either by providing a direct electronic form allowing the customer to make an application for a contract at the end of the comparison process.

(ii) or by providing a hyperlink to another website which leads to a concrete and specific insurance proposal or offer for a contract that the customer can directly submit to the insurer.

Therefore, we consider the following activities as examples of an insurance distribution activity:

‐ A comparison website where you can enter or select from a dropdown list your insurable interest information as well as apply for the insurance product proposed straight at the end of the comparison process.

‐ A comparison website where you can enter or select from a dropdown list your insurable interest information, but in the end, you only have hyperlinks to different insurance undertaking’s websites. If you click on the hyperlink, you are directed to the insurance undertaking’s website where you are led to a concrete and specific insurance proposal and you are given the possibility to sign the contract or apply for the insurance product  proposed  (irrespective of  whether  the information  that  you entered  on  the comparison website is prefilled on the insurance undertaking’s website or whether you have to fill in the same information again). 

On the other hand, a website that only lists insurance products and – distributors and uses hyperlinks to generic web pages of insurance undertakings’ or insurance intermediaries’ websites does not confer to the customer the ability to directly or indirectly conclude an insurance contract using a website or other media. This will typically be the case if the customer does not have the possibility to enter or select his insurable interest information on the comparison website.

More particularly, we do not consider  as examples of  insurance distribution,  insurance  comparison activities performed by websites that refer to:

‐ Hyperlinks to a homepage of an insurance undertaking’s website.

‐ Hyperlinks to a generic webpage of certain group of insurance products.

‐ A website that provides information or a hyperlink to information on a specific insurance product or tariff but instructs the customer to contact an insurance distributor of his or her choice in case of interest (without taking additional steps to assist in the conclusion of a contract) ;

‐ Hyperlinks to  a webpage  where  you can  make  a simulation  of  an insurance  product,  without obtaining a personal insurance offer.

The latter activities are to be considered as falling under the scope of Article 2, paragraph 2, d) of the IDD: “the  mere provision  of  information about  insurance  or reinsurance  products,  an insurance intermediary, a reinsurance intermediary, an insurance undertaking or a reinsurance undertaking to potential policyholders where the provider does not take any additional steps to assist in the conclusion of an insurance or reinsurance contract”.

In that regard, we are seeking clarification on the concrete cases in which the customer has the ability to directly or indirectly conclude an insurance contract using a website or other media.

Article 2(1)(1) of Directive (EU) 2016/97 of 20 January 2016 on insurance distribution (IDD) defines “insurance distribution” as “the activities of advising on, proposing, or carrying out other work preparatory to the conclusion of contracts of insurance, of concluding such contracts, or of assisting in the administration and performance of such contracts, in particular in the event of a claim, including the provision of information concerning one or more insurance contracts in accordance with criteria selected by customers through a website or other media and the compilation of an insurance product ranking list, including price and product comparison, or a discount on the price of an insurance contract, when the customer is able to directly or indirectly conclude an insurance contract using a website or other media”.

Article 2(2) of the IDD excludes certain types of activities as they do not constitute insurance distribution, such as “the mere provision of data and information on potential policyholders to insurance intermediaries, reinsurance intermediaries, insurance undertakings or reinsurance undertakings where the provider does not take any additional steps to assist in the conclusion of an insurance or reinsurance contract” (Article 2(2)(c)) or “the mere provision of information about insurance or reinsurance products, an insurance intermediary, a reinsurance intermediary, an insurance undertaking or a reinsurance undertaking to potential policyholders where the provider does not take any additional steps to assist in the conclusion of an insurance or reinsurance contract” (Article 2(2)(d)).

The definition of "insurance distribution" generally has to be applied in a broad manner as the objective of the IDD is to ensure a consistently high level of consumer protection and a level playing field for the different distribution channels of insurance products. In this respect, it is important to note from the outset that not only comparison websites where “the provision of information concerning one or more insurance contracts in accordance with criteria selected by customers (…)and the compilation of an insurance product ranking list” may be considered an insurance distribution activity, but also when these IDD requirements are met, any activity which involves an insurance distributor distributing insurance products through digital means such as the Internet falls under the definition of “insurance distribution” under Article 2(1)(1) of the IDD. In this case, the distributor is required to comply with EU and national provisions on insurance distribution including specific rules on the distribution through the Internet.

How the aforementioned provisions of the IDD are applied in practice to a comparison website, will generally depend on the existence of the following two criteria:

• The activity of providing information on insurance contracts, for remuneration, in response to criteria selected by the customer (see notably recital 12 of IDD), or the provision of a ranking of insurance products, including price and product comparison, or a discount on the price of an insurance product; and 
• The ability of the customer to directly or indirectly conclude an insurance contract at the end of the process. These criteria could notably depend on the extent to which the provider takes additional steps to assist the customer in the conclusion of that insurance contract. 

A comparison website (or other media) will generally not be carrying out an insurance distribution activity if it only provides a list of insurance products and distributors of these products, even if such a list includes hyperlinks to the main home page or to a generic webpage for a certain group of insurance products. 

Likewise, the comparison website would not be carrying out insurance distribution, if the website provides information or a hyperlink to information on a very specific insurance product or tariff, but does not recommend such products as suitable for a particular customer and in case of interest, instructs the customer to contact an insurance distributor of his or her choice without pointing to specific distributors or taking other measures to establish a contract with a specific distributor. In such a case, the activity consists in the mere provision of information about insurance products and insurance distributors without taking additional steps to assist in the conclusion of an insurance contract.

However, when the comparison website, for example, requires a pre-purchasing questionnaire to be completed or requires the selection of options from a drop-down list  in order to filter sales (e.g. where the comparison website asks a series of questions and then suggests several specific products, particularly where the electronic questionnaire form is pre-populated) and taking into account the length and the level of detail of the personal information required from the customer (e.g. age, previous claims in relation to a specific risk, medical condition etc.), this would be considered, as taking additional steps to assist the customer in the conclusion of an insurance contract and would be, in practice, carrying out an insurance distribution activity.

Ultimately, a case-by-case assessment will always be required, having regard to the specific circumstances of the case, including the type of insurance product (life or non-life insurance) and complexity of the product distributed to determine the extent to which an insurance distribution activity is carried out by the comparison website.