Solvency II application date delayed to 2016

The European Commission has postponed the application date of the Solvency II Directive to Jan. 1, 2016.

The draft directive postponing the application date was put forward at the request of Michel Barnier, the commissioner responsible for internal markets and services, according to a statement released Wednesday.

The details of the Omnibus II legislative proposal, which set out changes to Solvency II, are currently under discussion among the Commission, European Council and European Parliament.

Those discussions are “progressing well,” and “an agreement between Council and European Parliament is within reach,” according to Barnier’s statement.

Still, Barnier said it is not possible to approve all the details outlined in Omnibus II before Jan. 1, 2014, the date that Solvency II is currently scheduled to begin to apply. Before those details are known, a number of needed implementation measures also can’t be finalized, the statement said.

“I have always wanted rapid implementation of Solvency II,” Barnier said in the statement.

“But the currently planned date is simply no longer tenable. We have therefore proposed this postponement in order to avoid any legal uncertainty, especially for undertakings and supervisory authorities; we have done this only after obtaining assurance from the Council and the Parliament that they would not further change this new application date of Solvency II.”

“I now invite the co-legislators to reach agreement as soon as possible on Omnibus II and on this new Directive.”