Current through September 24, 2024
(1)
(a) It
is an unfair and deceptive act or practice in the business of insurance within
the meaning of T.C.A. §
56-8-103 for an insurance producer
to use a senior-specific certification or professional designation that
indicates or implies in such a way as to mislead a purchaser or prospective
purchaser that the insurance producer has special certification or training in
advising or servicing seniors in connection with the solicitation, sale or
purchase of a life insurance or annuity product or in the provision of advice
as to the value of or the advisability of purchasing or selling a life
insurance or annuity product, either directly or indirectly through
publications or writings, or by issuing or promulgating analyses or reports
related to a life insurance or annuity product.
(b) The prohibited use of senior-specific
certifications or professional designations includes, but is not limited to,
the following:
1. Use of a certification or
professional designation by an insurance producer who has not actually earned
or is otherwise ineligible to use such certification or designation;
2. Use of a nonexistent or self-conferred
certification or professional designation;
3. Use of a certification or professional
designation that indicates or implies a level of occupational qualifications
obtained through education, training or experience that the insurance producer
using the certification or designation does not have; and
4. Use of a certification or professional
designation that was obtained from a certifying or designating organization
that:
(i) Is primarily engaged in the
business of or instruction in sales or marketing;
(ii) Does not have reasonable standards or
procedures for assuring the competency of its certificants or
designees;
(iii) Does not have
reasonable standards or procedures for monitoring and disciplining its
certificants or designees for improper or unethical conduct; or
(iv) Does not have reasonable continuing
education requirements for its certificants or designees in order to maintain
the certificate or designation.
(2) There is a rebuttable presumption that a
certifying or designating organization is not disqualified solely for purposes
of part 4. of subparagraph (1)(b) of this rule when the certification or
designation issued from the organization does not primarily apply to sales or
marketing and when the organization or the certification or designation in
question has been accredited by:
(a) The
American National Standards Institute (ANSI);
(b) The National Commission for Certifying
Agencies; or
(c) An organization
that is on the United States Department of Education's list entitled
"Accrediting Agencies Recognized for Title IV Purposes" and the designation or
credential issued therefrom does not primarily apply to sales and/or
marketing.
(3) In
determining whether a combination of words (or an acronym standing for a
combination of words) constitutes a senior-specific certification or
professional designation indicating or implying that a person has a special
certification or training in advising or servicing senior citizens or retirees
the following factors to be considered shall include:
(a) Use of one or more words such as
"senior", "retirement", "elder", or like words combined with one or more words
such as "certified", "registered", "chartered", "adviser", "specialist",
"consultant", "planner", or like words, in the name of the certification or
professional designation; and
(b)
The manner in which those words are combined.
(4)
(a) For
purposes of this chapter, a senior-specific certification or professional
designation does not include a job title within an organization that is
licensed or registered by a state, federal, or self-regulatory financial
services regulatory agency, unless it is used in a manner that would confuse or
mislead a reasonable consumer, when that job title:
1. Indicates seniority or standing within the
organization; or
2. Specifies an
individual's area of specialization within the organization; unless
3. Such job title is used in a way that
indicates or implies that the user has special certification or training in
advising or servicing senior citizens or retirees.
(b) For purposes of this paragraph (4),
financial services regulatory agency includes, but is not limited to, an agency
that regulates insurers, insurance producers, broker-dealers, broker-dealer
agents, investment adviser representatives, or investment companies as defined
under the Investment Company Act of 1940.
Authority: T.C.A. §§
56-8-101, et seq., and
56-8-108.