Section I: General rules.

French insurance undertakings and their branches referred to in 1° of Article L. 310-2 as well as French branches of insurance undertakings referred to in 3° and 4° of the same Article may be authorised, under the conditions defined in this Article, to transfer all or part of their portfolio of contracts, covering risks or commitments situated in the territory of a Member State of the European Union with its rights and obligations, to one or more French insurance undertakings or their branches referred to in 1° of Article L. 310-2, to one or more undertakings whose home Member State is a Member State of the European Union or to their branches established in the territory of such undertakings, or to one or more insurance undertakings established in the State of the risk or commitment and authorised in that State. This article does not apply to transfers of portfolios of contracts underwritten under the freedom to provide services by undertakings authorised in accordance with the provisions of article L. 321-7.

Creditors are notified of the transfer request by a notice published in the Journal officiel, which gives them two months to submit their observations. The Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution approves the transfer if it is satisfied that the transfer does not prejudice the interests of creditors and policyholders.

The Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution shall approve the transfer only if the supervisory authorities of the State in which the transferring undertaking is established certify that the transferring undertaking possesses, taking into account the transfer, the solvency margin for undertakings referred to in Article L. 310-3-2 or, for undertakings referred to in Article L. 310-3-1, the eligible own funds necessary to cover the Solvency Capital Requirement referred to in Article L. 352-1. However, where the home Member State of the transferee undertaking is a member of the European Union, the certificate referred to in this paragraph is issued by the supervisory authorities of that State.

Where the transferor is a branch located in a Member State of the European Union, the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution shall obtain the prior agreement of the supervisory authority of the State in which the branch is located.

Where the risks or commitments transferred are located in a Member State of the European Union, the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution shall obtain the prior agreement of the supervisory authority of the State in which the risk or commitment is located.

If this supervisory authority remains silent for a period of three months following receipt of the aforementioned requests for consultation, the Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution shall be deemed to have tacitly given its consent.

For transfers concerning life assurance or capitalisation undertakings, this approval is also based on the data relating to the quota share provided for in Article L. 344-1.

Approval renders the transfer enforceable against policyholders, contract holders and beneficiaries as well as creditors. The transfer is enforceable from the date of publication in the Journal officiel of the approval decision referred to in the second paragraph of this article. Policyholders may cancel the contract within one month of the date of publication.

The provisions of this article are specified by decree in the Conseil d'Etat.