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Paris121 bis, rue de la Pompe, 75116 Paris, France

Luxembourg30, rue Marie-Adélaïde, L-2128 Luxembourg

European and Luxembourg insurers operating in France

Authorised in your home Member State, by the (the Luxembourg insurance supervisory authority) if you are a Luxembourg insurer, you market your contracts in France either without being established there, under the (FOS, libre prestation de services or LPS in French), or through a branch, under the (FOE).

Freedom to provide services (FOS)The regime under which an insurer authorised in one State of the European Economic Area can cover commitments located in another Member State without being established there, on the basis of its home-State authorisation (the European passport). In French: libre prestation de services (LPS).
Freedom of establishment (FOE)The regime under which an insurer from one State of the European Economic Area can operate in another Member State through a branch. In French: liberté d’établissement (LE).
CAACommissariat aux assurances: the supervisory authority for the insurance sector in Luxembourg.

Since 1 February 2026, has set the investment rules for your new unit-linked contracts; the contract itself is, in principle, governed by French law. Every change therefore has to be read twice, in Luxembourg and in Paris.

CAA Circular Letter 26/1A text of the Commissariat aux assurances that sets the investment rules for Luxembourg unit-linked life insurance contracts issued since 1 February 2026. It takes over from Circular Letter 15/3, without repealing it.

Your questions

Can the ACPR (the French prudential supervision and resolution authority) supervise us when we answer to the CAA?

Not for your solvency: prudential supervision belongs to the authority of your home Member State. For your business in France, yes: the ensures that you comply with the French rules that apply to you, particularly on business practices, and can require you to put matters right, inform your home authority, then take measures itself. Your answers should therefore be prepared with both authorities in mind.

ACPRAutorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution: the French authority, attached to the Banque de France, that authorises and supervises banks and insurers and oversees the protection of their customers.

What do we risk by setting up a team in Paris to run our distribution network?

Your freedom to provide services may be recharacterised as an establishment. The Directive treats any permanent presence as a branch, even a mere office run by your own staff or an independent person with permanent authority to act for you. The analysis therefore looks at what the team will actually do (network support, prospecting, underwriting, administration, power to bind the company), and it should be carried out before the team is set up.

Solvency IIDirective 2009/138/EC, which sets the prudential regime for European insurers and reinsurers. It has applied since 1 January 2016 and is revised by Directive (EU) 2025/2, which applies from 30 January 2027.

A policyholder is leaving France. Does the law governing the contract change?

No: the governing law is fixed when the contract is taken out, and the CAA itself points out, in LC 26/1, that a change of residence does not alter it. The contract’s taxation, on the other hand, in principle follows the new residence, and new payments may mean you are operating in another State, with its own requirements. Policyholder information and your due diligence procedures should anticipate the move.

AML/CFTAnti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism: the obligations of due diligence, customer knowledge and reporting to Tracfin (the French financial intelligence unit) that apply to insurers and intermediaries. In French: LCB-FT.

Our French distributors advise our clients. Does that exempt us from doing so?

No. The distributor owes its own advice under the Code des assurances (the French Insurance Code), but LC 26/1 requires the insurer, before offering a (FID) or a (FIC) other than type N, to know the policyholder’s wealth, investment horizon and objectives and to place them in a category. You may entrust these tasks to a third party, under your responsibility: the distribution agreement then organises how the information is collected and passed on.

Dedicated internal fund (FID)An internal fund of a Luxembourg insurer that underlies a single contract and has a single manager. As a rule, it requires a minimum premium of €125,000 and a policyholder in category A or above.
Collective internal fund (FIC)An internal fund of a Luxembourg insurer that is open to several policyholders. There are five types, from N to D, each available to policyholders of the corresponding category.

Can we close our French branch and carry on under the freedom to provide services?

Yes. As the branch has no legal personality of its own, the contracts remain those of the company, but their framework changes. The switch is prepared with the home authority and the ACPR, and involves informing policyholders, taking over the tax and reporting obligations the branch fulfilled until then, and reviewing the agreements it had signed.

  1. 01

    Design

    We adapt contracts designed under the supervision of another European authority to French law.

    • Entering the French market: freedom to provide services or branch, notification, timetable
    • General terms and conditions and information notices (notes d’information) rewritten for policyholders resident in France
    • Investment grids for each dedicated internal fund, specialised insurance fund (FAS) and collective internal fund, under LC 26/1 and the unit-linked funds admitted in France
    • A euro fund (fonds en euros) backed by a French insurer through a reinsurance treaty
  2. 02

    Steer

    We follow your French business where it meets the law of your home Member State, which we handle with lawyers from that State.

    • Organising sales teams in France without creating an establishment
    • Sharing advice and needs analysis with your French distributors
    • French tax obligations: tax representation mandate (mandat fiscal), policyholder information
    • Unclaimed (dormant) contracts and professional secrecy: tracing insured persons, life certificates
    • AML/CFT procedures common to your European markets
  3. 03

    Defend

    We defend your contracts before the French courts, which read them in the light of the Code des assurances.

    • Late cancellation (renonciation) claims based on French pre-contractual information
    • Challenges to the investment management of a dedicated internal fund
    • ACPR requests and measures targeting your business practices in France
    • Complaints to the European Commission where a French rule obstructs your freedom to provide services

See also