Insurance intermediaries

• Author: Andreea Stoican
• Position: Institute for Doctoral Studies, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania
• Pages: 200-205

INSURANCE INTERMEDIARIES

PhD. student Andreea STOICAN1

Abstract

The actual Civil code regula tes for the first time in the Romania n legislation the intermediation contract, until

its entering into for ce existing multiple situations tha t lent themselves to this legal operation, b ut did not benefit of such

particula r lega l rules. Yet, the case law has shown that the situations tha t arise in the a ctivity of the legal or natura l

persons a re much more complex, this leading, in time, to the reglementation of such p articular r ules. Such a ca se is that

found in the matter of insur ance contra cts, the position of the insur ance intermediar ies being r egulated especia lly by

Law no. 32/2000, accor ding to which they represent the natur al or legal persons auth orized in the conditions of the

above mentioned legal document, that perform intermediation a ctivities in the insura nce field, in exchange of a

remuneratio n, as well as the intermediaries from the EU member states that perform such a n activity on the Romanian

territor y, in a ccordance with the freedom in performing services. Therefore, the present paper aims to ana lyze the

conclusion of such insurance contracts and to underline the par ticular p osition of the insurance brokers, ha ving the

following structure: 1) Introduction; 2) The reglementa tion of the intermediation contract/br okera ge agreement in the

Romanian Law; 3) The importa nce of the intermediaries in th e insurance contr acts; 4) The conclusion of the insur ance

contracts; 5) Conclusions.

Keywords: intermediation, insur ance agreement, remuner ation, insurer, insura nce broker

JEL Classification: K39

1. Introduction

The intermediation activity actually includes a large number of agreements2, however, in the

current Civil Code, the activity regulated as “brokerage agreement” is the agreement by which an

entity (intermediary) undertakes to the other party (customer) to find a third party willing to

conclude an agreement.

Thus, the current Civil Code regulates, for the first time within the Romanian legislation, the

brokerage agreement. Until its enforcement there were a series of situations that were associated

with the legal operation of “intermediation”, but which were not subject to special legal provisions.

Actually, the situations occurring in the legal entities’ or natural persons’ activity, are much

more complex, and that is why certain situations required special regulations, separate from those

regulated by the Civil Code. Such a situation is the case of the insurance intermediaries, mainly

regulated by Law no. 32/2000 on the insurance activity and insurances monitoring.

Hence, this paper aims to analyze the case of this distinct category of intermediaries,

regulated by a special law, by reference to the provisions of the Civil Code applicable to this field,

in order to understand the particularities of this category of entities and their role in the work

undertaken.

2. The reglementation of the intermediation contract/brokerage agreement in the

Romanian Law

Until the enforcement of the current Civil Code on October 1st, 2011, the brokerage

agreement has been undefined in the Romanian legislation, not being explicitly regulated under our

legislation. However, due to the multitude of economic transactions performed within various

fields, but also due to the celerity of this economic activity, it is absolutely certain that the practice

required the advent of entities to intermediate the cooperation activities between various business

operators, facilitating thus their tasks.

1 Andreea Stoican -Institute for Doctoral Studies, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, Romania, andreeastoican@yahoo.co.uk

2 Mandate agreement with or without representation, agency agreement, brokerage agreement.