The ACPR has a total of six months to reach its decision from the date on which it receives a completed application.

• Before issuing a licence, the ACPR consults the relevant guarantee funds. It also consults the Conseil Supérieur de la Mutualité (Higher Mutual Insurance Council — CSM) for mutual insurers covered by the Mutual Insurance Code. In this case, the advisory opinion is deemed to have been given three months after the Council is consulted.
• For institutions covered by the Insurance Code, the absence of any response after six months constitutes an implicit decision to reject the application. If the ACPR reaches a decision not to issue a licence before the six-month deadline has expired, the undertaking must first be sent a formal demand asking it to submit its observations within 15 days. The decision to reject the application is notified to the undertaking, together with reasons, and the undertaking has two months to appeal to the Conseil d’Etat.

In granting licenses, the ACPR usually bases its decisions on the following criteria:

• the fitness and properness, expertise and experience of the persons tasked with running or overseeing the institution
• the administrative, technical and financial resources the undertaking proposes to deploy, in keeping with its programme of operations
• the distribution of capital and the quality of the shareholders for insurance institutions in the form of sociétés anonymes (public limited companies)
• the terms of constitution of the “establishment fund” for mutual insurers and groups (provident institutions).

For insurance institutions, a licence may be granted conditional upon the applicant’s compliance with certain commitments. The ACPR may refuse to issue a licence if it observes that the exercise of supervisory powers could be hampered by the existence of ownership links between the applicant and other legal or natural persons or by legislation, regulations or administrative provisions of a country not belonging to the European Economic Area covering one or more of those persons.

Reference texts :