Ref.: COM (2003) 657, Proposal for a Council Directive implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services
Rapporteur: Christa Prets (PES, Austria)
Procedure: Consultation
Summary: The proposal aims to eliminate gender-based discrimination in the provision of goods and services, including health care services and the calculation of insurance benefits and premiums for private insurance pension schemes.
Links: Initial proposal
Updated: 21 Feb 2005
13 December 2004 The Council adopted the Directive implementing principle of equal treatment between women and men in the access to and supply of goods and services.
The directive leaves Member States some room to continue to use gender where it is a determining factor in assessing insurance risks, but it must be based on relevant and accurate data, which must be regularly updated and made public.
The Commission said that, as a result of the directive, individuals will have much clearer information on how their insurance premiums and benefits are calculated.
Furthermore, all Member States must ensure that insurance costs related to pregnancy and maternity are attributed equally to both men and women. According to the Commission, it will lead to a much fairer distribution within the society of the costs of pregnancy and parenthood.
The Council Directive 2004/113/EC of 13 December 2004 implementing the principle of equal treatment between men and women in the access to and supply of goods and services - available here as PDF - was then published in the Official Journal of the European Union on 21 December 2004.
In six years’ time; the Commission will carry out a review of the Directive. This review will fully involve the representatives of the insurance industry, consumers and equality bodies.
1 November 2004
During the meeting of the Council for Employment and Social Policy (4 October 2004), ministers agreed that insurance companies have to treat men and women the same when it comes to premiums and benefits. Member States can only deviate from this basic rule if insurance companies can show that gender is a decisive factor in assessing risks for their products (based on statistics among other things).
Germany abstained to vote and hoped that, for the Social Council meeting in December, it will be able to change its abstention into full support for the directive.
Some organisations such as the European Women Lobby strongly criticised the fact that this exception effectively allows Member States to deviate from the principle of gender equality.
Supported by a workgroup of representatives from member states, equal rights organisations and insurance companies, the European Commission will monitor the implementation of the directive and report on its findings. The implementation date is pending on the publication of the directive in the European Official Journal.
1 June 2004
The Council meeting backed the arguments put forward by insurance and pensions companies and opposed the Commission’s proposal. The insurance industry favoured self-regulation but the final agreement, still to be reached between the Council and the Commission, may see this position eroded since the Commission has already rejected the self-regulation option.
30 March 2004
After an animated debate in Plenary Session, the European Parliament concluded that, in its opinion, gender is a factor which may not influence the provision of services. Unless application of different pricing is linked to individual behaviour and choices (such as eating habits, smoking, use of alcohol, job etc.), the differences in premiums or benefits of insurance products based on sex (including the risk of pregnancy) should be considered as discriminatory.
MEPs adopted the amended FEM Committee report by 313 votes to 141. The mention of 'Equal treatment' was changed to 'equality' in the title and text of the Directive.
The Council is expected to examine the proposal and make a decision on 1 June 2004.
15 March 2004
The FEM Committee approved the initial Commission’s proposal and adopted Ms Prets' report.
The report requested that the Directive should also apply to advertising of the terms and conditions of provision on the basis that it would be illogical to prohibit discrimination in relation to access while allowing advertising to imply that such discrimination is permitted.
Initial proposal, transmitted to the EP and to the Council on 06 November 2003
The Commission’s proposal prohibits both direct and indirect discrimination based on sex in the access to and supply of goods and services. The scope of the proposal includes any service or good that have an economic value or is supplied for payment, whether in the public or private sectors. This includes medical and health care services, insurance and financial services – essentially all goods and services outside the workplace not covered by an existing directive.
The main points to note are as follows:
- The prohibition of discrimination applies to access to and supply of goods and services which are available to the public. It does not apply to the content of media or advertising;
- The principle of equal treatment does not preclude differences which relate to goods or services for which men and women are not in a comparable situation. It is the case when goods or services are intended exclusively or primarily for the members of one sex. This applies to private membership clubs, or to skills which are practised differently for each sex (such as hairdressing);
- The use of actuarial factors related to gender is widespread in the provision of insurance services, even when such differences do not necessarily reflect objective differences. The Commission proposes a ban of the use of actuarial factors taking into account information based on sex differences. However, to avoid a sudden readjustment of the market, the measure applies only to new contracts concluded after the date of transposition of this Directive.
