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ISME welcomes EU preliminary finding on insurance database

ISME welcomes EU preliminary finding on insurance database

18th June 2021:  ISME warmly welcomes the preliminary findings by the EU Commission that the operation of the “Insurance Link” database by Insurance Ireland breaches competition rules.

The Commission commenced investigation of Insurance Ireland in 2019 into alleged restrictions on access to the database.

“The European Commission’s preliminary findings show that Insurance Ireland arbitrarily delayed or de facto denied the access of certain insurers and their agents to Insurance Link,” the EU competition enforcer said. “Since at least 2009 and until today, access has been linked to membership in the association.”

Insurance Ireland is an association of companies active in the insurance sector here. It covers over 90% of the Irish motor vehicle insurance market.

Neil McDonnell, Chief Executive of ISME, said:

ISME has long held the view that this database should not be held by a commercial entity, and should be under the authority of a State-run regulatory body. The “Insurance Link” database should form the core of the Integrated Insurance Fraud Database proposed by the Cost of Insurance Working Group. This finding also makes clear why we wish to see the competition investigation widened to include public and employers’ liability insurance. Such data protection concerns as the DPC may have about the operation of a fraud database should be immediately addressed by primary legislation. Recitals 47 and 71 of the GDPR explicitly provide for the processing of personal data “necessary for the purposes of preventing fraud.” It is our preference that this database should be owned and maintained by the Personal Injuries Assessment Board”.

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