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    2005-03-01

ICOB 3.6 General

Other regulations and guidelines

ICOB 3.6.1G

A firm communicating a non-investment financial promotion may also be subject to other regulations and guidelines, outside the remit of the FSA, such as:

  1. (1)

    the codes issued from time to time by the Advertising Standards Authority;

  2. (2)

    regulations from any overseas regulator (where relevant) if the firm intends to market from the United Kingdom into any other country; and

  3. (3)

    the Privacy and Electronic Communication (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 (SI 2003/2426).

Non-investment financial promotions

ICOB 3.6.2R
  1. (1)

    A non-investment financial promotion includes a financial promotion for a non-investment insurance contract made by letter or e-mail or contained in a newspaper, journal, magazine, other periodical publication, website, television or radio programme, or teletext service.

  2. (2)

    The following are to be regarded as indications that a financial promotion for a non-investment insurance contract is a non-investment financial promotion rather than a real time financial promotion:

    1. (a)

      the financial promotion is communicated to more than one person in identical terms (save for details of the recipient's identity);

    2. (b)

      the financial promotion is communicated by way of a system which in the normal course constitutes or creates a record of the communication which is available to the recipient to refer to at a later time; and

    3. (c)

      the financial promotion is communicated by way of a system which in the normal course does not enable or require the recipient to respond immediately to it.

Meaning of "made", "directed at" and "recipient" in this chapter

ICOB 3.6.3R

In accordance with article 6 of the Financial Promotion Order (Interpretation: communications) any reference in this chapter to:

  1. (1)

    a communication being made to another person is a reference to a communication being addressed in legible form to a particular person or persons (for example, where it is contained in a letter);

  2. (2)

    a communication being directed at persons is a reference to a communication being addressed to persons generally (for example where it is contained in a television broadcast or website); and

  3. (3)

    a recipient of a communication is the person to whom the communication is made or, in the case of a financial promotion which is directed at persons generally, any person who reads or hears the communication.

When is a financial promotion "directed only at" certain persons?

ICOB 3.6.4R
  1. (1)

    This rule applies for the purposes of determining whether a communication is directed only at commercial customers under ICOB 3.3.6 R(1).

  2. (2)

    If all the conditions set out in (4) are met, a communication is to be regarded as directed as in (1).

  3. (3)

    In any other case in which one or more of those conditions is met, that fact is to be taken into account in determining whether the communication is directed as in (1) (but a communication may still be regarded as so directed even if none of the conditions in (4) are met).

  4. (4)

    The conditions are that:

    1. (a)

      the communication includes an indication of the description of persons to whom it is directed and an indication of the fact that the contract to which it relates is available only to such persons;

    2. (b)

      the communication includes an indication that persons of any other description should not rely upon it; and

    3. (c)

      there are in place proper systems and procedures to prevent recipients other than persons to whom it is directed entering into the contract to which the communication relates with the person directing the communication, a close relative of his or a member of the same group.