The General Insurance Standards Council (GISC) may not get a response to its application to the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) for exemption until May 2002.
The GISC announced on Monday that it would ask for its rules to be exempted from the Competition Act. The application is an updated version of its original exemption application to the OFT in July 2000. The OFT gave the GISC negative clearance, saying the GISC did not perform a commercial function, and thus did not consider the application for exemption.
However, the Institute of Insurance Brokers' (IIB) legal challenge to the clearance was successful at the Competition Commission Appeal Tribunal (CCAT).
It has taken the GISC more than a month to decide to apply for exemption following the legal defeat. An OFT spokesman said no decision would be made until spring next year.
