The Terms of Validity and Expiry of the SSN-approved Insurance Plans were Eliminated

The terms of validity and expiry of insurance plans (i.e., the technical and contractual terms and conditions of each of the products underwritten by insurers) approved by the National Superintendence of Insurance (“SSN”, after its acronym in Spanish) were repealed by resolution SSN No. 40,375/2017 dated March 31, 2017 (the “Resolution”). The Resolution amended points 23.2 and 23.3 of the General Regulation of the Insurance Activity approved by General Resolution SSN No. 38,708 (“RGAA”, after its acronym in Spanish), which refer to the requests for approval of new insurance plans and to the right of any insurer to use insurance plans authorized to another insurer, with the SSN’s prior authorization.

The Resolution eliminated the validity term of 10 years, without establishing any validity period at all. The expiry provided for approvals authorized prior to March 3, 2011 was also repealed. Taking into account that this expiration would have operated on March 3, 2016, as a consequence of the Resolution, plans which had already expired would have regained their validity.

In line with the repeal of the period of validity, the requirement in point 23.3 of the RGAA that stated that contractual conditions should be within their validity term when an insurer requested authorization to use a plan authorized to another insurer was also eliminated.

In point 23.2 of the RGAA, reference to the Law on Consumer Defense No. 24,240, contained among the laws that the SSN should take into consideration when checking the appropriateness of the insurance plans proposed by insurers, was removed.

In terms of new insurance plans, the requirement of prior express approval by the SSN was maintained. Tacit approval of the plans shall occur ninety (90) calendar days after the application, provided no observation is raised by the SSN and no prior conformity or approval of another body of the public administration be required.

This condition shall also apply to the automatic authorization after thirty (30) calendar days from the submission of request to be authorized to use plans authorized to another insurer, provided that ninety (90) days have elapsed since the original approval.

Finally, the 90-day and 30-day periods for tacit approval of requests pending at the date of the Resolution (i.e., March 31, 2017) began to run from that date.