SECTION 5.609. Delegation and New Insurers

(a) An insurer may delegate by written contract the functions that the insurer is required to perform under the program to one or more department licensed managing general agents (MGA), and to the extent an insurer has contractually delegated any requirement of §§5.601 - 5.611 to an MGA, the MGA shall be deemed an insurer for the purposes of §§5.601 - 5.611. A copy of the delegation agreement must be submitted to the department's Financial Responsibility Verification Program Coordinator and the vendor. Under such delegation, both the MGA and the insurer shall be jointly and severally responsible for full compliance with this program and jointly and severally subject to disciplinary actions from the department for failure to meet program requirements.

(b) An insurer or delegated MGA that commences writing personal automobile insurance in the Texas market more than 10 business days after the effective date of §5.606 of this subchapter (relating to Requirements for Insurers Using the Web Services Program), but before June 1, 2007, shall comply with the database program as detailed in §5.604 and §5.605 of this subchapter (relating to Reporting Requirements for Insurers Using the Database Program and Data Error Correction Requirements for Insurers Using the Database Program) and must begin reporting data on or before June 30, 2007.

(c) An insurer that commences writing personal automobile insurance in the Texas market on or after June 1, 2007 shall have 30 calendar days to comply with the database program requirements in §5.604 and §5.605 of this subchapter and begin reporting data.

(d) An MGA that has been contracted to act on behalf of an insurer under subsection (a) of this section has the same reporting options as an insurer. An MGA that contracts to act on behalf of an insurer under subsection (a) of this section more than 10 business days after the effective date of §5.606 of this subchapter must comply with the database program requirements in §5.604 and §5.605 of this subchapter and begin reporting data as specified for an insurer in subsections (b) and (c) of this section.

Source Note: The provisions of this §5.609 adopted to be effective December 5, 2006, 31 TexReg 9730