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DMD - Evaluation by the

European Commission

In April 2019, the Commission launched its consultation on the evaluation Background
In its press release, EBA stresses that it will ensure a: “proportionate imple- of the Directive on distance marketing of consumer financial services.
mentation of this new framework to take account of the different classes of
investments firms”. ESMA will also be actively involved in the development As announced in its roadmap, on this issue, the evaluation will gather evi- The Distance Marketing of Financial
of the level 2 measures. dence regarding the functioning of the DMD in its totality and, in particular, Services Directive (Directive 2002/65/
regarding the following aspects:
EC, DMD) aims at ensuring the free

Finally, to assess the impact of the provisions proposed in the regulatory • scope of services covered movement of financial services in
deliverables, the EBA also launched a data collection exercise on a volun- • information disclosure the single market by harmonising
tary basis. • right of withdrawal consumer protection rules governing
• unsolicited services and communications
• regulatory choices by Member States this area. The Directive sets out a list of
Next steps • interplay with product-specific legislation in the field of retail financial information concerning the financial
services, the e-commerce framework and horizontal consumer protec- service and its provider that the
The Agreement between the Commission, Parliament and Council still has tion rules.
to be published in the Official Journal of the EU. consumer should receive before the
The results of the consultation will help the Commission assess the Direc- distance contract is concluded. It also
The Regulation will enter into force after publication in the Official Jour- tive’s coherence, effectiveness, efficiency, relevance and EU added value. grants, for certain financial services,
nal and will apply from 18 months after its entry into force. Regarding the The consultation consisted of two short questionnaires. One was aimed a right of withdrawal of 14 days to the
Directive, Member States shall adopt and publish the laws, regulations at the general public, the other to stakeholders such as BIPAR (with ques-
and administrative provisions necessary to comply with this Directive 18 tions on relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, coherence with other EU texts consumer. Finally, the Directive bans
months after its entry into force and it will apply as of the same date as the including the IDD, etc.) services and communications from
Regulation. suppliers which are not solicited nor
In its response to the Commission questionnaire, BIPAR explained that
BIPAR supports the European Commission’s initiative to carry out an evalu- consented by the consumers. The DMD
ation of the DMD. BIPAR welcomes in particular the Commission’s inten- applies to insurance intermediaries
tion to focus its evaluation on the functioning of the DMD from “a cost/ when distributing products under
benefit and burden reduction perspective”.
an organised distance sales /service
Since the adoption of the DMD in 2002, new sector specific EU rules apply- provision scheme and exclusively
ing to the distribution of financial/insurance services/products like the via one or more means of distance
Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) and new horizontal EU rules on con- communication.
sumer protection like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) have
been introduced. These new EU rules have introduced new pre-contractual
information or disclosure requirements. BIPAR therefore agrees with the
Commission’s approach to evaluate the interplay of the DMD with these
new EU rules, and to avoid any possible duplication in particular for the
sake of better consumer protection and legal clarity. Therefore, any revised
DMD should only include requirements specific to the distance marketing
of consumer financial services/products and focus inter alia, for example,
on a better protection of vulnerable consumers.

BIPAR also underlined that the technology-neutral approach of the DMD is
completely appropriate and should be maintained. It prevents distortion of
competition and does not favour one channel of distribution in particular.
Regulation should deliver the same protection regardless of channel and
consumers will determine what suits them best. It is important that all con-

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