Mr. Colm Kincaid:

The concept of passporting is a logical consequence of the fact that, once authorised in one European Union or EEA member state, a company has been authorised to provide its services throughout the European Union. I will outline how it works. We are notified when a company is passporting in to the State. There is provision for host state regulators to receive periodic information on the volume of business being written in that member state. However, the responsibility to engage in prudential supervision rests with the home state regulator. The host state regulator is only responsible for the conduct of business.

There was a question about pricing. What represents uneconomic pricing for a given insurer is something of which only the prudential supervisor of the home member state would have sight. This is because to understand whether that is the case, the regulator must be aware of the full financial position of the company. The prudential supervisor has visibility in that regard, rather than the conduct of business supervisor.