SUSEP publishes Public Consultation Notice 04/2020, which provides for the use of remote means in insurance, open pension plan and capitalization operations

On February 23, 2021, the Superintendency of Private Insurance (SUSEP) put for Public Consultation the Notice No. 04/2021, presenting the draft of a new CNSP Resolution that will establish rules on the use of remote means in operations related to insurance and open pension plans, repealing CNSP Resolution No. 294/2013 and CNSP Resolution No. 359/2017.

The draft of this new Resolution is in line with SUSEP’s Strategic Planning 2020-2023aiming to progressively establish a regulation more proportional to market risks, considering the cost-benefit of regulatory interventions, in order to contribute to an environment that is sustainable, financially sound and transparent to customers.

With the intention of defining principles to be followed by insurers in the application of digital technologies in their operations, the new draft Resolution aims not to restrict the incorporation of technological advances in the operations of the market supervised by SUSEP.

To this end, the Resolution brings a simpler and more objective structure to the regulation on the use of remote means in insurance, open pension plan and capitalization operations, focused on establishing technical requirements necessary for the use of these means, as well as enabling their use for issuing and sending documents, contracting and other procedures, which will enable a 100% digital operation.

In this way, the draft defines remote means as “those that allow the exchange of and/or access to information and/or all kinds of data transfer through communication networks involving the use of technologies such as the world wide web, telephony, cable or digital television, satellite communication systems, among others.”

Among the technical requirements that must be ensured with the use of remote means in insurance, open pension plan and capitalization operations, the Resolution establishes the following:

1. the integrity, authenticity, non-repudiation and confidentiality of information and electronic documents;
2. confirmation of receipt of documents and messages sent by the supervised entity to the client or, when applicable, to the intermediary; and
3. provision to the client of the protocol and information provided for in the legislation and regulation in force for requests and procedures related to the contracted product or, when applicable, to the intermediary, for any requests and procedures related to the product.

In addition, the new draft Resolution allows for the use of remote means to issue, send and make available documents related to the contracting of the product, such as contractual documents, billing documents, statements, contractual conditions, regulations and informative materials, and must ensure the possibility of printing these documents by the client.

Another important innovation refers to the formalization of insurance, open pension plan and capitalization proposals, which previously could only be carried out by means of a login and password or digital certificate and which, in accordance with the draft, can be carried out using any remote means.

Thus, in order not to limit the possible forms of identification of the proposing party and technological solutions equivalent to signature, the Resolution provides that proposals may be filled out and formalized by secure electronic means accepted by the parties as valid, necessarily in an authenticated form and subject to proof of authorship and integrity.

It is worth noting that this new draft Resolution was prepared based on the idea of digital disruption currently faced by the Brazilian consumer, in view of the growing replacement of physical platforms by electronic ones, both with respect to the banking sector, such as e-commerce and the sharing economy, as well as home delivery services. For SUSEP, startups have been gaining space in the insurance market and the prospect is that this market, like the others, will become increasingly digital.

The full draft Resolution can be accessed at this link. Interested parties may send comments or suggestions by electronic message addressed to corec.rj@susep.gov.br, in accordance with the specific standardized table duly completed, by March 25, 2020.

Demarest’s Insurance and Reinsurance team is closely monitoring the development of this public consultation through to the publication of the final version, and makes itself entirely available to provide any clarifications on the subject.