By Foo Yun Chee
BRUSSELS – Irish insurers’ association Insurance Ireland has offered to open up its data sharing platform to non-members and apply fair criteria to access it in an attempt to end a near-three EU antitrust investigation and stave off a possible hefty fine.
The European Commission last year charged the industry body, which covers over 90% of the Irish motor vehicle insurance market with restricting certain insurers and their agents’ access to its data system called Insurance Link.
The EU competition enforcer said this gave Insurance Ireland’s members an unfair advantage, reduced the possibility of more competitive prices and restricted the number of choices for car owners.
Insurance Ireland has proposed to allow insurers access to Insurance Link regardless of whether they are members or not, the commission said in a statement on Friday.
It will also change the criteria for accessing the platform to make them fair, objective, transparent and non-discriminatory that will be applicable to both Irish and non-Irish applicants.
Its offer also includes appointing an independent Application Officer to handle applications, and adopting a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory fee for users.
The pledge would be valid for 10 years. The EU antitrust regulator said interested parties have a month to provide feedback.
“If the market test indicates that the commitments address the competition concerns, the Commission may adopt a decision making them legally binding on the association. Such a decision would not conclude that there is an infringement of EU antitrust rules,” the commission said.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; Editing by Richard Chang)