JOHN CARLOS I

KING OF SPAIN

To all who present it and understand it.

Sabed: That the General Courts have approved and I come to sanction the following law.

Reason exposure

Many Spanish citizens have a life insurance contract in any of their modalities (death, invalidity, survival) covering a single or several of the previous contingencies (pure or mixed insurance), and have a variable duration (all life or temporary). Whether in the form of individual or collective insurance, approximately one in four Spaniards generates savings and economic rights for themselves or their beneficiaries, according to the terms of each insurance contract.

These life insurance are taken by themselves, or on the occasion of the hiring of operations and services of all kinds such as for example insurance of all-risk vehicles, hiring of mortgage loans, subscription of accident insurance and insurance adherence to travel packages, and/or credit cards.

However, it is too often the case that, in the event of the death of the policyholder or the policyholder, his potential beneficiaries, precisely because they are not aware of the existence of the insurance contract, are not in a position to to demand their recovery, losing the economic rights to which they are entitled and should therefore be able to perceive.

Regardless of the fact that the absence of a claim on account of the lack of knowledge of their rights by the beneficiaries themselves and the quick limitation of these rights, can produce a benefit for the insurance companies Because many policies are still unpaid, this situation needs to be remedied.

Although there are currently different regulations governing the insurance contract, nor the provisions of Law 50/1980, of October 8, of the Insurance Contract, nor the recast of the Law of ordination and supervision of private insurance, approved by Royal Decree-Law 6/2004 of 29 October, and Law 44/2002 of 22 November of Measures of Reform of the Financial System (which in Chapter 1 contains a general regulation of the protection of the financial services clients), provide for mechanisms to respond adequately to this issue.

According to this, the Senate approved Motion 671/187 in which it urged the government to " analyze, within six months, the feasibility of creating a single register of life insurance policies, with special reference to the conjugation of the right to information of the beneficiaries with the right to privacy of the policyholders, in the framework of the regulations on the protection of personal data and the neutrality between different instruments saving ".

Having regard to the report produced by the Ministry of Economy, on the aforementioned Motion dated 22 May 2003, a proposal for a Law was presented to establish a mechanism for information and transparency for all the life insurance contracts are brought to a successful conclusion and all the provisions of the contract can be met in the event of the risk involved. For all of these reasons, the Insurance Contract Registry is created with death cover.

Thus, through this Law, a Public Register is created in which the life cover insurance contracts to be concluded in the Kingdom of Spain must be registered. In order for the Registry to be operational, the insurance concluded in the field of employment and business relations, regulated by Royal Decree 1588/1999 of 15 October 1999, on which the register is approved, is excluded from this obligation. Regulation on the Instrumentation of undertakings ' undertakings with workers and beneficiaries, in which sufficient information and protection mechanisms are already provided for. The obligation to communicate the data to the Register falls fully on the insurance companies, constituting an administrative infringement of the non-compliance with the obligations set out in this Law.

The Registry, which acts only at the request of the person concerned, provides information only of the data of the insured person, since it is the death of the person who generates the benefit. It is not, therefore, the object of the Register to give information on the death of the taker, which may lead to error if the person does not match the insured person, nor the beneficiaries, since that would encroach on the right to the the privacy of the person and the person taking or insured, in addition to the fact that errors could also be made in the event that the designation of beneficiaries was made outside the insurance contract or in a generic or non-nominated form. The Register thus limits itself to the condition of the insured person of the deceased, as well as to the existence of the contracts and the insurance companies with which those contracts had been concluded. With these measures it is substantially easier for potential beneficiaries to claim the collection of their rights, which is ultimately the objective pursued by this Law.

Finally, it is necessary to make mention of the obligation laid down in the Law that all contracts in a portfolio should be communicated within one year of their entry into force, in order to be able to comply effectively with the purpose of this.

Article 1. Creation of the Registry.

The Death Coverage Insurance Contract Record is created by this Act.

Item 2. Finality of the Record.

The purpose of the Register is to provide the information necessary to enable it to be known to potential stakeholders as soon as possible, if a deceased person has been insured for death, as well as the insurance undertaking with which it has subscribed, in order to enable the potential beneficiaries to contact the insurer to ascertain whether they are listed as beneficiaries and, where appropriate, to claim the benefit of the insurance contract.

Article 3. Legal nature.

1. The Register created by this Law has the nature of public registry, dependent on the Ministry of Justice.

2. The centralized management will be carried out in the General Registry of Acts of Last Will of the Directorate General of the Registers and the Notary, which will have the status of responsible of the file, for the effects foreseen in the Law of the Organic Law 15/1999, of 13 December, for the Protection of Personal Data, and before which the rights of access, rectification, cancellation and opposition provided for in that Law may be exercised.

3. The information contained in the Register shall be presumed to be true for information purposes, unless otherwise specified.

This presumption of veracity is to be understood as referring to the existence of the contract, without, in any event, presuming the existence of coverage or the right to the collection of the benefit, for which it will be necessary to be in the contract in question.

Article 4. Scope of application.

1. The insurance contracts, the data of which must appear in the Register, shall be those relating to life insurance with death cover and to accident insurance in which the contingency of the death of the insured person is covered. individual or collective policies.

2. Excluded from the scope of the Register:

(a) Insurance that implements pension commitments of companies with the workers and beneficiaries regulated in Royal Decree 1588/1999 of 15 October.

(b) The insurance in which, in the event of the death of the insured, the taker and the beneficiary agree.

(c) Contracts entered into by social security mutual funds acting as an instrument of business social security, mutual insurance and mutual insurance companies whose exclusive object is to provide benefits or teaching or education grants.

3. The conditions under which insurance in which the beneficiary is a legal person and insurance in which the identification of insured persons is not possible shall be laid down in the Register, in accordance with the rules laid down in the Register. death.

Article 5. Obligation to register and register content.

1. Insurance companies that conclude or have concluded insurance contracts to which this Law applies, and provided that they are in force, have the duty to communicate to the General Register of Acts of Last Will, with the the data specified in the following paragraph shall be determined in accordance with the procedure laid down in the following paragraph. Such data may be subject to automated processing.

In addition, the insurance entities shall communicate to the General Register of Acts of Last Will, in the terms, with the content, in the form and within the time limits that they regulate, that the benefit derived from a given contract in the Register has been satisfied.

Such obligations will apply both to Spanish insurance companies and to those domiciled in a country belonging to the European Economic Area, which is active in Spain under the rule of law of Spain. establishment or free provision of services.

In the event of co-insurance existence, the obligations referred to in the preceding paragraphs shall be borne by the entity acting as an open-end representative of all insurers.

2. The Registry will contain the following data:

a) Identificative data of the insured person:

1. First name and last name.

2. ° Number of the National Identity Document, Fiscal Identification Number or the number of the identity document that in each case corresponds.

b) Identifying data of the insurance institution:

1. Social Denomination.

2. Home.

3. The administrative key to which it is registered in the administrative register of insurance and reinsurance entities provided for in the recast of the Law on the Management and Supervision of Private Insurance, approved by Real Legislative Decree 6/2004 of 29 October and in its regulatory framework for development.

4. Tax Identification Code.

c) Insurance Contract Identification Data:

1. No. Contract number or reference to the Social Security Mutual Benefits Regulation, if any.

2. ° Type of coverage.

Article 6. Right of access.

1. Any person interested in obtaining information about whether a deceased person has contracted a death insurance and the insurance entity with whom he/she is subscribed may have access to the Register.

2. Access to the Register may be made only after the deceased has been insured, subject to accreditation of that circumstance, and provided that 15 days have elapsed since the date of death. For this purpose, the corresponding death certificate shall be submitted.

3. The period during which the data shall be available in the Register shall be five years from the date specified in the preceding paragraph. However, data relating to contracts whose performance has been satisfied by the insurance institution or entities shall be cancelled from the Register as soon as the institution responsible for its management is notified to it by the institution. insurer.

4. The procedures and means to be used for the consultation of the information in the Register shall be regulated.

Article 7. Issue of certificate by the Registry and information to be supplied to the consultant by the insurance companies.

1. The Registry shall issue, within a period to be determined by regulation, a certificate stating in which contracts in force the deceased person is insured and with which insurance institution. In the event that the deceased person is not insured under any contract that is included in the scope of this Law, this shall be stated on the certificate issued.

The certificate of registration must be issued in the language used by the petitioner in the corresponding request for data information, either in Spanish or in any of the languages that has an official character in any language. Autonomous Community.

2. If the certificate is obtained, the consultant may obtain information from the insurance institutions on whether the condition of the beneficiary is present. If the consultant is not a beneficiary, the insurance institution shall limit itself to making such a statement on the basis of that fact, without providing any other information.

Article 8. Regime of infringements and penalties.

The obligations of the insurance companies included in this Law are to be considered as rules for the management and supervision of private insurance. Its failure to comply shall constitute an administrative infringement, in accordance with the provisions of the recast of the Law on the Management and Supervision of Private Insurance, approved by Royal Decree-Law 6/2004 of 29 October.

Article 9. Referral of information to the Directorate-General for Insurance and Pension Funds.

1. The body responsible for the management of the General Register of Acts of Last Will shall, in the terms and with the periodicity of the General Register, transmit to the Directorate-General for Insurance and Pension Funds a list of the institutions. insurers who have provided the information to which they are bound by this Act.

In addition, the Board of Directors shall communicate to the Directorate-General for Insurance and Pension Funds any significant incidents that may occur in the performance of this obligation.

2. In the light of the communications of the authority responsible for the management of the Register, the Directorate-General for Insurance and Pension Funds may make requirements to the insurance institutions or require, where appropriate, the conduct of audits. computer or the application of other corrective measures to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in the Register.

Additional disposition first. Protection of personal data.

The processing of personal data deriving from the provisions of this Law, as well as the transfer thereof for inclusion in the Register shall be governed by the provisions of the Organic Law 15/1999, of 13 of December, for the Protection of Personal Data and its provisions for development.

The consent of the insured person for the communication of the data shall not be required by the insurance entities in order to proceed to their inclusion in the Register or for the processing of such data by the person responsible for it.

Also, it will not be necessary for the General Directorate of the Records and the Notary to inform the insured of the inclusion of the data in the Register.

Additional provision second. Budgetary regime.

The precepts of this law, the fulfillment of which would require expenditure from the State Budgets to take effect at the beginning of the next financial year.

Additional provision third. Regulatory development.

The Government is empowered to proceed with the regulatory development of this Law.

In particular, within six months of the entry into force of this Law, the regulatory development of the precepts should have been carried out to allow for the effective implementation and operation of the Register.

Additional provision fourth. Extra duty.

The Law 50/1980, of October 8, of the Insurance Contract, will be applicable in all the provisions of this Law; the recast of the Law on the Management and Supervision of Private Insurance, approved by the Royal Legislative Decree 6/2004 of 29 October, as well as other general legislation on the protection of financial services customers.

Additional provision fifth. Obligation of notaries.

Notaries who are required to authorize acts of adjudication or partition of property acquired by inheritance shall request telematic, for the procedure that is regulated, except that the interested parties they provide it, the certificate of the registration of insurance contracts for death cover, all within the period of availability referred to in Article 6 of this Law, incorporating it into public writing.

In the event that there is insurance with death cover, the notaries will warn the stakeholders of the legal significance of this.

Additional provision sixth. Competitive regime.

This Law is issued under the exclusive jurisdiction of the State in accordance with Article 149.1.8. of the Constitution.

Additional provision seventh. Fee for issue of the certificate of the Register of insurance contracts for death cover.

1. The precise management for the issue of the certificates referred to in Article 7 of this Law is taxed with a fee, which will be governed by this Law and by the other normative sources that for the fees are established in the Article 9 of Law 8/1989, of 13 April, of Public Fees and Prices.

2. The issuing of the certificates referred to in Article 7 of this Law is the taxable event.

3. The person applying for the issue of certification is a taxable person.

4. The fee of the fee is 3.26 euros per certificate issued. This amount may be updated by Ministerial Order.

5. The rate accrual occurs when the request for the certificate is submitted.

6. The form of settlement of the fee shall be established in a regulated manner.

First transient disposition. Contracts in portfolio.

The insurance companies must comply with this Law in respect of the contracts in force at the time of their entry into force, within one year from that date.

Second transient disposition. Reference to data relating to life insurance contracts or accidents linked to credit cards.

Insurance institutions shall have a one-year period from the date of entry into force of the provisions of this Law to carry out the first remission of the data relating to life or life insurance contracts. accidents linked to credit cards.

Final disposition first. Amendment of the recast of the Law on the Management and Supervision of Private Insurance, approved by Royal Decree-Law 6/2004 of 29 October.

1. A new point (r) is created in Article 40 (3) of the recast of the Law on the Management and Supervision of Private Insurance, with the following wording:

(r) Failure to comply with the obligation to provide the competent body with the information referred to in the regulatory legislation of the registration of death cover insurance contracts where such conduct has repetitive character. "

2. A new point (s) is created in Article 40 (4) of the recast of the Law on the Management and Supervision of Private Insurance, with the following wording:

"s) Failure to comply with the obligation to provide the competent body with the information referred to in the regulatory legislation for the registration of death cover insurance contracts."

Final disposition second. Entry into force.

This Law will enter into force six months after its publication in the "Official State Gazette".

Therefore,

I command all Spaniards, individuals and authorities, to keep and keep this law.

Madrid, 14 November 2005.

JOHN CARLOS R.

The President of the Government,

JOSE LUIS RODRIGUEZ ZAPATERO