Arkansas Administrative Code
Agency 054 - Arkansas Insurance Department
Rule 054.00.05-004 - Rule 23 - Property, Casualty, Surety and Marine Rate and Form Filings
Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 9, September, 2024
Section 1. Purpose
The purpose of this Rule is to set forth rules and procedural requirements which the commissioner deems necessary to carry out the provisions of Ark. Code Ann. §§ 23-67-201, et seq., § 23-67-219, § 23-79-109 and § 23-79-110, as to rate and form filings of property, casualty, surety, and marine insurers.
Section 2. Authority
This Rule is issued pursuant to the authority vested in the commissioner by Ark. Code Ann. § 23-61-108, §§ 25-15-202 et seq., § 23-67-218, Act 1697 of 2005, and Act 506 of 2005, and other applicable provisions of Arkansas law.
Section 3. Applicability and Scope
This Rule applies to insurance described in Ark. Code Ann. § 23-67-203, and § 23-67-501, and insurers, rate service or advisory organizations, joint underwriting associations and joint reinsurance organizations making filings under Ark. Code Ann. §§ 23-67-201, et seq., § 23-67-219, §§ 23-67-501, et seq., and §§ 23-79-109, et seq., subject to any exemptions the commissioner may order pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 23-67-206.
Section 4. Emergency
Pursuant to the Commissioner's authority under Ark. Code Ann. § 23-61-108, §§ 25-15-201, et seq., and other applicable laws and rules, the effective date of this Rule is January 1, 2006.
Section 5. Definitions
A "form filing" is documentation setting forth the policy forms, endorsements or other forms to be used in the State of Arkansas by an insurer.
An "insurance holding company" group or system consists of two (2) or more affiliated companies, one or more of which is an insurer as defined in Ark. Code Ann. § 23-63-503(3) and Arkansas Insurance Department ("Department") Rule 15.
"Expenses" mean those parts of a rate attributable to acquisition, commissions, selling, inspection, audit, field supervision, collection, general expenses, taxes, licenses and fees.
"Rate" means the cost of insurance per exposure unit, whether expressed as a single number or as prospective loss cost, and an adjustment to account for the treatment of expenses, profit and variations in loss experience, prior to any application of individual risk variations based on loss or expense considerations, and does not include minimum premiums.
"Supplementary rate information" means any manual, minimum premium, rating schedule or plan of policy writing rules, rating rules, classification system, territory codes and descriptions, rating plans and any other similar information needed to determine, clarify or support the applicable premium for an insured. Supplementary rate information includes factors and relativities, such as increased limits factors, classification relativities, deductible relativities or similar factors.
"Supporting information" means information, including supporting actuarial data, which includes (i) the experience and judgment of the insurer and the experience or data of other insurers or advisory organizations relied upon by the insurer, (ii) the interpretation of any statistical data relied upon by the insurer, (iii) descriptions of methods used in making the rates, and (iv) actuarial, technical or other services made available by an advisory organization, or other similar information required to be filed by the commissioner to explain, clarify or justify a filing.
"Prospective loss costs" means that portion of a rate that does not include provisions for expenses (other than loss adjustment expenses) or profit, and are based on historical aggregate losses and loss adjustment expenses adjusted through development to their ultimate value and projected through trending to a future point in time.
" Participating insurer" means any member, subscriber or service purchaser of an advisory organization.
Section 6. Rate Service Organizations
Every advisory organization shall file with the Department every proposed document thirty (30) days prior to the effective date. The Department may extend the review period an additional thirty (30) days by written notice to the filer before the thirty (30) day period expires. Any advisory organization, in addition to other activities permitted, is authorized to:
Section 7. Procedures for Rate and Supplementary Rate Information Filings
An insurer may file a deviation from the reference document as filed by the advisory organization. Such filings shall specify the basis for and adequately justify the request for the deviation and shall be accompanied by the information required in Section 7(A)(2) of this Rule.
All Classification manuals, rules and rates, rating plans, and every modification of any of the foregoing which an insurer proposes to use for workers' compensation and employers' liability insurance shall be approved, or deemed approved, by this Department before such manuals, rules, rates or rating plan can be used. Insurers may file independently or by reference to the loss costs, supporting information or supplementary rate information filed by an advisory organization. Insurers may file deviations to the loss costs filed by an advisory organization.
If a copy of the filing, bearing the appropriate stamp of the Department, is to be returned to the filer, two (2) copies of the filing cover Property and Casualty Transmittal Document are required, together with a postage-paid envelope large enough to accommodate the return filing and addressed to the filing insurer, insurance holding company or group, or advisory organization. Insurance holding company groups submitting rate filings simultaneously for affiliated companies must file a Property and Casualty Transmittal Document for each affiliated company. A copy of the Property and Casualty Transmittal Document shall be included for each company. Only one (1) complete copy of the rate documents and supporting information need be filed for Departmental records, if the documents are applicable to all affiliated companies. However, if there are any deviations between or among affiliated companies, supporting information must be submitted for each company along with separate Property and Casualty Transmittal Documents outlining the deviations. Each company must submit in the cover letter or attached explanatory memorandum a synopsis of each exhibit, the location of the supporting information within the filing, and the conclusion of the data.
The proposed effective date of the filing shall be not less than thirty (30) days after the filing has been received by the Department. If the information which supplements the filing in accordance with Section 7(B)(2) of this Rule is not sufficient for the Department to determine whether the filing meets the requirements of Ark. Code Ann. § 23-67-219, the Department will notify the filing insurer or advisory organization. If the insurer or advisory organization is required to submit additional information, the effective date of the proposed filing shall not be less than thirty (30) days after such information is received by the Department.
Independent filings based upon a classification system other than the classification system filed by a designated advisory organization must be accompanied by an explanation of the method the insurer will utilize to compile and report data in compliance with Ark. Code Ann. § 23-67-219(2)(B).
Any participating insurer in an advisory organization may satisfy its obligation to file the prospective loss cost portion of its rates, supplementary rate information or supporting information, by adopting a reference document filing made by an advisory organization, using Forms RF-WC and RF-1. Workers' compensation and employers' liability insurance filings by advisory organizations are advisory only, and any insurer desiring to use those filings shall submit a filing indicating its intent to file rates, supplementary rate and supporting information by reference to the filing of the licensed advisory organization. The Property and Casualty Transmittal Document shall contain the advisory organization's reference document number applicable to this filing.
An insurer shall file all deviations from an advisory organization's most recent loss cost filing. These deviations may be accomplished through the use of the Form RF-WC and attachments thereto. The Form RF-1 should accompany the deviation request. The Department shall approve or disapprove deviations within thirty (30) days after receipt of the completed deviation filing. The deviation shall be effective upon approval by the Department.
Section 8. PROCEDURES FOR FORM FILINGS - All Lines.
All forms submitted for review shall comply with the applicable provisions of Ark. Code Ann. §§ 23-79-101, et seq. Pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 23-79-109, this Section shall not apply to surety bonds, nor to policies, riders, endorsements, or forms of unique character designed for and used to provide insurance upon a particular subject.
In addition to the requirements of Section 8(l), insurers submitting a form filing are required to include completed Property and Casualty Transmittal Documents.
Section 9. SELF CERTIFICATION ("STMSCP" Program)
Every filing submitted, pursuant to this optional procedure, must be accompanied by the appropriate completed and signed compliance certificate.
Certification of compliance should be with respect to applicable laws, rules, bulletins and other information contained on the Department's website and/or contained in applicable checklists.
Certification must be by a duly authorized officer as evidenced by the authorized officer's signature.
Certification should contain a statement to the effect that the Department will rely on the certification and that, if it is materially false or misleading, corrective action will be taken as authorized.
A Self-certification form is available from the website and is also listed as an example in Section 10, subsection (e) as FORM SELFCERT.
Submit the Property & Casualty Transmittal Document. Identify on the transmittal document under "Filing Type: Other" by providing as description "STMSCP". The transmittal document should also be used to provide filing information in the "Filing Description" area to identify the checklist(s) relied upon (title or form number) and edition date.
If a filer has a new provision in a filing, such as an expansion of an exclusion or any other provision which might not meet product standards in Arkansas, the transmittal document should be used to highlight those provisions and to self-certify the rest. By narrowing the scope of review, the industry filer should achieve greater speed to market overall for such a filing referred to in this program as a hybrid pilot filing. (Tip for Filers: Concepts or issues that are controversial or in need of extended analysis, for example "mold exclusions", should be filed separately under the regular state process.)
An STMSCP submission should be developed using the Product Requirements Locator, found either through the Department's website or National Association of Insurance Commissioner's ("NAIC") website. The transmittal document "Filing Description" must indicate whether the Product Requirements Locator was used to obtain the filing requirements. If the Product Requirements Locator is not used when data is available, or if the filing does not fully comply with the filing requirements, a thorough review of the filing will be performed and a warning issued.
If a filing is received with a certification by an officer, department review will be expedited and we will collect all information needed to capture and develop the statistical data for the pilot program.
STMSCP submissions are afforded the privilege of an expedited review, and are given priority over other filings. Insurers that repeatedly submit incorrect or incomplete STMSC filings may have their privilege suspended or revoked.
Section 10. FORMS
FORM UT |
Property & Casualty Uniform transmittal header |
FORM RF-1 |
Rate filing abstract. |
FORM A-1 |
Private passenger automobile abstract |
FORM H-1 |
Homeowners abstract |
FORM RF-2 |
Reference filing adoption form |
FORM RF-WC |
Workers' compensation reference filing adoption form |
FORM F-1 |
Form filing abstract |
FORM APCS |
Automobile survey (as updated) |
FORM HPCS |
Homeowners survey (as updated) |
FORM HONOT |
Homeowners rate notice |
FORM PPANOT |
Private passenger automobile rate notice |
FORM PROMAL |
Professional malpractice rate increase notice to insured |
FORM PRONOT |
Professional malpractice rate increase newspaper notice |
FORM SELFCERT |
Arkansas Certificate of Compliance |
They may be found as documents independent of this Rule on the
Department's website at
Section 11. SEVERABILITY
Any section or provision of this Rule held by a court to be invalid or unconstitutional will not affect the validity of any other section or provision of this Rule.
(signed by Julie Benafield Bowman)
JULIE BENAFIELD BOWMAN
INSURANCE COMMISSIONER
STATE OF ARKANSAS
(signed December 29, 2005)
DATE