Within the insurance relationship we cannot fail to mention the importance of the intermediary as a key figure that goes beyond mere intermediation. His importance is such that his participation is regulated in the rules.
April 9, 2023 – 01:00
Insurance Law No. 827/96 defines it as follows: “… Any natural or legal person who is authorized as such by the Control Authority that mediates in the contracting of insurance.” The denomination that defines “intermediation” as the main activity is clear. As a regulated activity (insurance), the management of the agent, producer or broker is controlled by the Superintendence of Insurance in its articles 70 to 82 of Chapter III, Section I “Of Insurance Auxiliaries” of Law No. 827/96, as long as and due to their special characteristics, they are also under the scope of articles 1595 and 1596 of the Civil Code; of the Merchant Law No. 1034/83 in its Chapter III, Section I “Of the Brokers” and of the Law No. 1334/98 of Defense to the Consumer and User.
In addition to the so-called direct insurance, that is, those carried out “directly” by the insurers, intermediation in the contracting of insurance can only be done by insurance agents and brokers, and only those registered with the Superintendence of Insurance.
These acquire the registration with the main requirement of suitability and the training carried out according to the minimum hours required and in the centers duly authorized by said entity. There are limitations –established in Article 74– that indicate who cannot exercise the function of insurance agents or brokers: “… a) Officials or employees of the Control Authority; b) Officials or public employees or decentralized institutions dependent on the State or its agencies; c) Trustees, board members, risk inspectors and claims inspectors of the country’s insurance companies; d) Non-resident foreigners in the country; e) Loss adjusters; and, f) In general, any natural or legal person, falls into legal disqualifications to engage in trade and those sanctioned by the Control Authority…” .
Poor performance of their functions makes them subject to sanctions established in Article 120 and consisting of: “…a) Warning; b) Fine, according to the seriousness of the offense and at the discretion of the Control Authority; c) Suspension from three months to one year; and, d) Cancellation of the registration, thus demonstrating that the exercise of insurance intermediation constitutes a true professional activity, serious and “regulated” in every sense.
But in practice, the insurance agent, producer or broker, more than an intermediary, is an “advisor” who is trained to know the technical, legal and commercial mechanism of the insurance, lower these concepts to the knowledge of the insured and accommodate the product or service tailored to the client’s needs, thus perfecting the natural principle of insurance, which is the transfer of risk by the insured and the assumption of risk by the insurer. Therefore, its function goes beyond simple intermediation and its figure is increasingly important in the marketing of insurance, resulting in an important collaborator of the insurer who thus deals more with risk management and operations in the perfection of the contract, that of the sale itself. Given its definition by law as “insurance assistant”, we agree that, due to its characteristics and the importance of its activity, it is an “advisor” and a strategic ally for the insurance industry, which, in addition to its technical knowledge, from the point of view of From a “legal” point of view, its importance is significant since the agent, by intervening between the parties to the contract, affects not only the pre-contractual stage, but also the concretion and operation throughout the contract period. It is the intermediary who normally knows, before anyone else, the state of the risk and its modifications, not only in the objective aspect but, better than anyone else, the moral or subjective risk of each insurable.
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