ABSTRACT
A description of the context of the Brussels Regulation could perhaps be confined to the powers under which the regulation itself was made, and the objectives of those powers. The predecessor of the Brussels Regulation was the Brussels Convention, the origins of which are to be found in the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community. Austria, Finland and Sweden became members of the Community by a Treaty of Accession signed on 24 June 1994 which came into force on 1 January 1995. The insurance companies established in one Member State are guaranteed the right to set up a branch in another Member State or to provide services on a temporary basis in another Member State. The ability of insurers to offer products throughout the EU is hampered if each individual state is entitled to apply its own insurance laws to the product. The Commission’s original approach to this problem was twofold.
