I fully support the need for contract certainty in the marketplace (News, 3 August), and would say that the subscription market is extremely proactive in this regard and endeavouring to meet the FSA requirements for end of 2006.

Yes, there is additional work for brokers, but any good broker should already be doing much of what is required. The real issue is having to log all the information regarding the quote/renewal in contract certainty, and then, additionally, if evidence of cover has been issued within the five working days/30 calendar days for retail/commercial.

However, the same cannot be said of the subscription market, which does not appear to be taking this issue seriously.

There appears to be little activity or willingness to discuss this with brokers, and Biba recently issued an FAQ on contract certainty on its website for members, July 2006, which actually contains incorrect information.

It states:

  • The code does not require commercial customers to be issued with a policy wording, before inception. Incorrect, this applies to commercial as well as for retail

  • The five-day/30-day evidence-of-cover clock starts ticking from the date of receipt of proposal. Incorrect, it starts from inception.

    • It would be nice if we could receive correct guidance.

    Mark Miller
    By email

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