PIANY has confirmed that the New York State Insurance Department filed Regulation No. 194 with the Secretary of State for publication in the Feb. 10, 2010, edition of the New York State Register as a final regulation, effective Jan. 1, 2011. Although this version will represent the final adopted version of the regulation, PIANY will continue to work with the department on drafting guidance and compliance documents targeted specifically to property/casualty producers, which will attempt to clarify any compliance issues for producers.
The association has obtained and reviewed the actual final regulation documents from the Secretary of State’s Office, but the New York State Insurance Department has asked that it not share the documents with others until after publication in the New York State Register. PIANY has however, taken the liberty of summarizing the changes embodied in the new draft; they are as follows:
*The new version requires only that producers provide a “description of the role” the producers play in the sale instead of whether the producers represent the purchasers or insurers.
*The new version also drops the requirement that producers provide initial compensation disclosures on all policy renewals and provides that information relative to renewals be provided only if requested either 30 days before or 30 days after the renewal.
*The new version provides that insurance producers will not be required to retain a copy of any written disclosure if they have a written agreement with the carrier that the carrier retains the copies.