On April 07, 2021, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India published Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (Insurance Advertisements and Disclosure) Regulations, 2021.
The Objective of the Regulations is
- to ensure that the insurers, intermediaries or insurance intermediaries adopt fair, honest and transparent practices while issuing advertisements and avoid practices that tend to impair the confidence of the public; and
- to ensure that the advertisement is relevant, fair and in simple language enabling informed decision making.
Key features of the Regulations are discussed below:
- Every insurer must have a compliance officer, whose name and official position in the organisation shall be communicated to the Authority, and who shall be responsible to oversee the advertising programme.
- Every insurer establish and maintain a system of control over the content, form, and method of dissemination of all advertisements concerning its policies or products.
- Every insurer must maintain an advertising register at its corporate office.
- Every insurer must maintain a specimen of all advertisements for a minimum period of three years.
- Must file a copy of each advertisement with the Authority within 7 days of its release, together with information:
(a) an identifying number for the advertisement;
(b) the UIN number(s) of the policy(ies) or Products advertised in case of an insurance advertisement;
(c) a description of the advertisement and how it is used;
(d) the method or media used for dissemination of the advertisement.
6. file a certificate of compliance stating that, to the best of its knowledge, advertisements disseminated during the preceding year have complied with the provisions of these regulations and the advertisement code as stated in Regulation 13 within 30 days of closing of financial year.