Page 29 - BIPAR Panorama EN 2019

STANDARDISATION

The European Committee for Standardisation (CEN) develops standards for various industry
sectors through technical committees composed of national standardisation bodies. In 2016,
CEN set up the Technical Committee which works on the creation of standardised (IT) process
models in the insurance sector concerning policy administration and claims handling. BIPAR
participates in the meetings of the CEN Technical Committee for the insurance sector as a
liaison organisation. The Committee is currently finalising its work on a European Standard
for the “Transfer of Electronic Documents”.
https://www.bipar.eu/en/page/european-committee-for-standardisation-cen

TAXATION

Financial and insurance services are today exempt from VAT as provided in the VAT Directive
which dates back to 1977.

On 27 November 2007, the European Commission adopted two proposals for a new
Directive and a new Regulation with the objective of simplifying and updating the current
VAT rules for financial and insurance services. However, since the EU Member States failed
to reach a unanimous agreement, in 2016 the European Commission decided to withdraw
the two proposals.
Since the VAT exemption dates from 1977, the legislation has not kept abreast of latest
developments and the recent judgments of the CJEU have shown that there is a need to
adapt the VAT Directive to current market realities in order to ensure legal certainty and
establish a level-playing field on VAT for all financial service providers.
The VAT rules for financial and insurance services are back on BIPAR’s agenda since the
Commission is currently analysing the current VAT rules with the aim of assessing the
impacts of possible future changes to the current rules.

https://www.bipar.eu/en/page/taxation-issues

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