Subject 120-2-11 ADVERTISING OF LIFE INSURANCE AND ANNUITY CONTRACTS
This Regulation is made and promulgated by the Insurance
Commissioner pursuant to the authority set forth in Section
33-2-9 and Chapter 33-6 of the
Georgia Insurance Code.
| (1) |
To implement
the Insurance Laws of the State of Georgia with respect to advertising in the
solicitation, replacement, advisement and sale of life insurance and annuity
contracts and to protect the interests of the public so that they will be able
to more adequately make insurance purchasing decisions in their own best
interest, |
| (2) |
To establish minimum
standards of conduct and guidelines requiring truthful, complete, clear and
accurate disclosure of all material and relevant information used or intended
for use with respect to advertising in the solicitation, replacement,
advisement or sale of life insurance or annuity contracts in this State,
and |
| (3) |
To prevent the use of
unfair methods of competition and unfair practices among insurers, agents and
counselors with regard to advertising in the solicitation, replacement,
advisement and sale of life insurance and annuity contracts in this
State. |
| (4) |
The provisions of this
regulation are not intended to discourage competition or comparison of life
insurance and annuity contracts, but to provide for correct and truthful
information and comparison in connection therewith. |
For the purpose of these Regulations:
| (1) |
"Commissioner" shall mean the Insurance
Commissioner of the State of Georgia. |
| (2) |
"Policy" shall include any policy, plan,
certificate, contract, agreement, statement of coverage, rider or endorsement
which provides for life insurance or annuity benefits. |
| (3) |
"Insurer" shall include any individual,
corporation, association, partnership, or any other legal entity which is
defined as an "insurer" in the Georgia Insurance Code or issues life insurance
or annuity contracts for delivery in this State. |
| (4) |
"Advertisement" shall be verbal, printed,
written or other material or communication of any type from any source which is
designed to create or has the effect of creating public interest in life
insurance, annuities or in an insurer, agent or counselor, or induces or tends
to induce the public to purchase, increase, modify, reinstate, surrender or
retain a policy including, but not limited to:
| (a) |
printed and/or published material,
audiovisual material, mailing envelopes, descriptive literature used by an
insurer in direct mail, newspapers, magazines, radio and television scripts,
billboards or similar displays; |
| (b) |
descriptive literature and sales aids of all kinds issued, distributed or used
by an insurer, agent or counselor, including but not limited to circulars,
leaflets, booklets, depictions, illustrations, and form letters, including the
use of pamphlets, brochures, books or portions thereof, authored by third
parties; |
| (c) |
materials, statements
or communications of any type used for the recruitment, training, and education
of an insurer's sales personnel and agents which are designed to be used or are
used to induce the public to purchase, increase, modify, reinstate, surrender
or retain a policy; and |
| (d) |
prepared or extemporaneous sales talks, presentations, and material for use or
used by sales personnel, agents or counselors. |
|
| (5) |
"Advertisement" for the purpose of these
rules shall not include:
| (a) |
communications or
materials used within an insurer's own organization and not disseminated to the
public. |
| (b) |
communications with
policyholders other than material urging policyholders to purchase, increase,
modify, reinstate, surrender or retain a policy. |
| (c) |
a general announcement from a group or
blanket policyholder to eligible individuals on an employment or membership
list that a policy or program has been written or arranged; provided the
announcement clearly indicates that it is preliminary to the issuance of a
booklet explaining the proposed coverage. |
|
| (1) |
This Regulation
shall apply to any life insurance policy or annuity contract or service or
advice related thereto, wherein an "advertisement," as that term is
hereinbefore defined, is used or is intended for presentation, distribution or
dissemination in this State when such use, presentation, distribution or
dissemination is made either directly or indirectly by or on behalf of an
insurer, agent, or counselor as those terms are defined in the Georgia
Insurance Code and this Regulation. |
| (2) |
Every insurer shall establish and at all
times maintain a system of control over the content, form and method of
dissemination of all advertisements of its policies. All such advertisements,
regardless of by whom written, created, designed, or presented, shall be the
responsibility of the insurer. |
| (1) |
Advertisements shall be truthful and not
misleading in fact or by implication. The form and content of an advertisement
of a policy shall be sufficiently accurate, complete and clear so as to avoid
deception or the capacity or tendency to mislead or deceive. Whether an
advertisement has the capacity or tendency to mislead or deceive shall be
determined by the Commissioner from the overall impression that the
advertisement may be reasonably expected to create upon a person of average
education or intelligence within the segment of the public to which it is
directed. |
| (2) |
No advertisement
shall use the terms "investment," "investment plan," "founder's plan," "charter
plan," "expansion plan," "profit," "profits," "profit sharing," "deposit,"
"interest plan," "savings," "savings plan," or other similar terms in
connection with a policy in a context or under such circumstances or conditions
as to have the capacity or tendency to mislead a purchaser or prospective
purchaser of such policy or a policyholder to believe that he will receive, or
that it is possible that he will receive, something other than a policy or some
benefit not available to other persons of the same class and equal expectation
of life, when such is not the fact. |
| (1) |
The information required to be disclosed
by this Regulation shall not be minimized, rendered obscure, or presented in an
ambiguous fashion or intermingled with the text of the advertisement so as to
confuse or mislead. |
| (2) |
No
advertisement shall omit material information or use words, phrases,
statements, references, or illustrations if such omission or such use has the
capacity, tendency, or effect of misleading or deceiving purchasers or
prospective purchasers as to the nature of their relationship with the insurer
or as to the nature or extent of any policy benefit, loss covered, premiums
payable at specified ages over the life of the contract unless premiums remain
level, or state or federal tax consequences. The fact that the policy offered
is made available to a prospective insured for inspection prior to consummation
of the sale, or an offer is made to refund the premium if the purchaser is not
satisfied, does not remedy misleading statements. |
| (3) |
In the event an advertisement uses the
terms "Non-Medical," "No Medical Examination Required," or similar terms where
issuance of a policy is not guaranteed, such terms shall be accompanied by a
further disclosure of equal prominence and in juxtaposition thereto to the
effect that issuance of the policy may depend upon the answers to the health
questions contained in the application. |
| (4) |
An advertisement shall not use as the
name or title of a policy any phrase which does not include the words "life
insurance" or "annuity" unless accompanied by other language clearly indicating
it is life insurance or an annuity. |
| (5) |
An advertisement shall clearly and
prominently describe the type of policy discussed or advertised. The name or
title of the policy, or description thereof, shall not be such as to deceive or
mislead a person as to the true nature of the policy or as to the benefits
provided thereunder. |
| (6) |
An
advertisement of a policy marketed by direct response techniques shall not
state or imply that because there is no agent or commission involved there will
be a cost saving to prospective purchasers unless such is the fact. No such
cost savings may be stated or implied in any advertisement without
justification found to be satisfactory to the Commissioner prior to its use
unless such is a provable fact. |
| (7) |
An advertisement for a policy containing graded or modified benefits shall
prominently display any limitation of benefits. If the premium is level and
coverage decreases or increases with age or duration, such fact shall be
clearly and prominently disclosed. |
| (8) |
An advertisement for a policy with
non-level premiums shall clearly and prominently describe the premium
changes. |
| (9) |
The following
requirements shall apply to advertisements which make reference to dividends:
| (a) |
An advertisement shall not utilize or
describe dividends in a manner which is misleading or has the capacity or
tendency to mislead. In this connection, analogies and comparisons between
dividends payable on shares of stock and dividends payable under a policy are
prohibited unless the advertisement fully, clearly, and accurately describes
the differences. |
| (b) |
An
advertisement shall not state or imply that the payment of any amount of
dividends is guaranteed. If dividends are illustrated, they must be based on
the insurer's current dividend scale and the illustration must contain a
prominent statement to the effect that such dividends are not to be construed
as guarantees of dividends to be paid in the future. |
| (c) |
An advertisement shall not state nor
imply that illustrated dividends under any participating policy and/or pure
endowments will be or can be sufficient at any future time to assure, without
the further payment of premiums, the receipt of benefits, such as a paid-up
policy, unless the advertisement clearly and precisely explains what benefits
or coverage would be provided at such time and under what conditions this would
occur. |
| (d) |
Advertisements shall not
state nor imply that dividends are other than a refund or return of part of the
premium paid which is not guaranteed and which is dependent on the investment
earnings, mortality experience and expense experience of the company. |
| (e) |
Any comparison between participating and
non-participating policies or contracts must be true and accurate. |
|
| (10) |
An advertisement shall not
state or imply that a purchaser of a policy will share in or receive a stated
percentage or portion of the earnings on the general account assets of the
insurer. |
| (11) |
The following
requirements shall apply to testimonials or endorsements:
| (a) |
Testimonials used in advertisements must
be genuine; represent the current opinion of the author; be applicable to the
policy advertised, if any; and be accurately reproduced. In using a testimonial
the insurer, agent or counselor makes as its own all of the statements
contained therein, and such statements are subject to all the provisions of
this Regulation. |
| (b) |
If the
individual making a testimonial or an endorsement has a financial interest,
directly or indirectly, in the insurer or a related entity as a stockholder,
director, officer, employee, or otherwise, such fact shall be clearly and
prominently disclosed in the advertisement. If a person receives any benefit
directly or indirectly other than required union scale wages, such fact shall
be clearly and prominently disclosed in the advertisement by language identical
to, or substantially similar to, the following: "THIS IS A PAID
ENDORSEMENT." |
| (c) |
An advertisement
shall not state or imply that an insurer or a policy has been approved or
endorsed by a group of individuals, society, association, or other organization
unless such is the fact and unless any proprietary relationship between an
organization and the insurer is disclosed. If the entity making the endorsement
or testimonial is owned, controlled, or managed by the insurer, or receives any
payment or other consideration from the insurer for making such endorsement or
testimonial, such fact shall be clearly and prominently disclosed in the
advertisement. |
| (d) |
No testimonial
or endorsement shall be made in any form which constitutes a solicitation for
the purchase of life insurance and annuities in this State, unless such
endorser is currently licensed in Georgia as an agent to solicit
insurance. |
|
| (12) |
No
advertisement shall contain statistical information relating to any insurer or
any policy unless it accurately reflects recent and relevant facts. The source
of any such statistics used in any advertisement shall be identified
therein. |
| (13) |
The following
requirements shall apply to introductory, initial or special offer policies and
to policies with enrollment periods:
| (a) |
An
advertisement of an individual policy or combination of such policies shall not
state or imply that such policy or combination of such policies is an
introductory, initial, or special offer, or that applicants will receive
substantial advantages not available at a later date, or that the offer is
available only to a specified group of individuals, unless such is the fact. An
advertisement shall not describe an enrollment period as "special" or "limited"
or use similar words or phrases in describing it when the insurer uses
successive enrollment periods as its usual method of marketing its
policies. |
| (b) |
An advertisement
shall not state or imply that only a specific number of policies will be sold,
or that a time is fixed for the discontinuance of the sale of the particular
policy advertised because of special advantages available in the
policy. |
| (c) |
An advertisement shall
not offer a policy which utilizes a reduced initial premium rate in a manner
which overemphasizes the availability and the amount of the reduced initial
premium. When an insurer charges an initial premium that differs in amount from
the amount of the renewal premium payable on the same mode, all references to
the reduced initial premium shall be followed by an asterisk or other
appropriate symbol which refers the reader to that specific portion of the
advertisement which contains the full rate schedule for the policy being
advertised. |
| (d) |
An enrollment
period during which a particular insurance policy may be purchased on an
individual basis shall not be offered within this State unless there has been a
lapse of not less than six (6) months between the close of the immediately
preceding enrollment period for the same or similar policy and the opening of a
new enrollment period. The advertisement shall specify the date by which the
applicant must mail the application, which shall be not less than ten (10) days
and not more than forty (40) days from the date on which such enrollment period
is advertised for its first time. This rule applies to all advertising media -
i.e. mail, newspapers, radio, television, magazines, and periodicals - by any
one insurer. The phrase "any one insurer" includes all the affiliated companies
of a group of insurance companies under common management or control. This rule
does not apply to the use of a termination or cutoff date beyond which an
individual application for a guaranteed issue policy will not be accepted by an
insurer in those instances where the application has been sent to the applicant
in response to his request. It is also inapplicable to solicitations of
employees or members of a particular group or association which otherwise would
be eligible under specific provisions of the Georgia Insurance Code for group,
blanket, or franchise insurance. In cases where an insurance product is
marketed on a direct mail basis to prospective insureds by reason of some
common relationship with a sponsoring organization, this rule shall be applied
separately to each sponsoring organization. |
|
| (14) |
An advertisement of a particular policy
shall not state nor imply that prospective insureds shall be or become members
of a special class, group, or quasi-group and as such enjoy special rates,
dividends, or underwriting privileges, unless such is the fact. |
| (15) |
An advertisement shall not make unfair,
inaccurate nor incomplete comparisons of policies, benefits, dividends, or
rates of other insurers. An advertisement shall not falsely nor unfairly
describe other insurers, their policies, services, or methods of
marketing. |
| (16) |
For individual
deferred annuity products or deposit funds which are paid to an insurer and
which are ancillary to the basic individual policy benefits and are established
for the payment of future premiums or for the purchase of annuity benefits at a
future date, the following requirements shall apply:
| (a) |
Any illustrations or statements
containing or based upon interest rates higher than the guaranteed accumulation
interest rates shall likewise set forth with equal prominence comparable
illustrations or statements containing or based upon the guaranteed
accumulation interest rates. Such higher interest rates shall not be greater
than those currently being credited by the company unless such higher rates
have been publicly declared by the company with an effective date for new
issues not more than three (3) months subsequent to the date of declaration.
Non-guaranteed interest rates must be clearly and prominently labeled as
such. |
| (b) |
If an advertisement
states the net premium accumulation interest rate, whether guaranteed or not,
it shall also disclose in close proximity thereto and with equal prominence,
the actual relationship between the gross and net premiums. |
| (c) |
If any contract does not provide a cash
surrender benefit prior to commencement of payment of any annuity benefits, any
illustrations or statements concerning such contract shall prominently state
that cash surrender benefits are not provided. |
| (d) |
An advertisement shall not state or imply
that individual annuity policies or deposit funds are accorded preferential tax
treatment unless the advertisement fully, clearly and accurately describes the
tax deferred nature of the contract, including the tax consequences on
surrender. |
|
| (17) |
The
following additional disclosure requirements shall apply to the advertising and
sale of life insurance to students:
| (a) |
The
envelope in which insurance solicitation material is contained may be addressed
to parents, i.e. "To The Parents of Joan Smith," or "Mr. and Mrs. Smith." The
address may not include any combination of words which indicate that the
correspondence is coming from the school itself rather than the insurer, agent
or counselor, nor may it imply that the school has endorsed the material and
supplied the insurer with information about the student unless such is a
correct and truthful statement. |
| (b) |
The return address on the envelope may not in any way imply that the soliciting
insurer, agent or counselor is affiliated with a university, college or
school. |
| (c) |
If the term "student
insurance forms enclosed" is used on the envelope it must appear in one
continuous line. For example, it is not permissible to divide the wording so
that "student insurance" appears on one line and "forms enclosed" on
another. |
| (d) |
If the name of the
agent, counselor or company official appears on the envelope, it is to be
identified as such, with a complete mailing address following the listing of
the name. |
| (e) |
Any slogan affixed by
an insurer, agent or counselor which appears on an envelope to the left of the
postal meter stamp may not focus on education. Neutral slogans, such as "Buy
Government Bonds" or "Support Your Local United Fund," are
acceptable. |
| (f) |
No insurance
solicitation materials may contain any of the statements or implications
described and prohibited from appearing on the envelope. All letters, circulars
and informational flyers used in the solicitation of insurance must be clearly
identified as coming from an agent, counselor or insurer, if such is the case,
and these entities must be clearly identified as such. |
| (g) |
No advertisement may state or imply that
because such insurance is offered to a selective group that there will be cost
savings to prospective purchasers unless such is the fact. No such cost savings
may be stated or implied in any advertisement without justification found to be
satisfactory to the Commissioner prior to its use. |
|
| (1) |
The name of the insurer shall be clearly
identified and prominently displayed, and if any specific individual policy is
advertised it shall be identified either by form number or other appropriate
description. An advertisement shall not use a trade name, an insurance group
designation, name of the parent company of the insurer, name of a particular
division of the insurer, service mark, slogan, symbol, or other device or
reference without disclosing the name of the insurer, if the advertisement
would have the capacity or tendency to mislead or deceive as to the true
identity of the insurer, or create the impression that a company other than the
insurer would have any responsibility for the financial obligation under a
policy. |
| (2) |
No advertisement shall
use any combination of words, symbols, or physical materials which by their
content, phraseology, shape, color, or other characteristics are so similar to
a combination of words, symbols, or physical materials used by a governmental
program or agency or otherwise appear to be of such a nature that they tend to
mislead prospective insureds into believing that the solicitation is in some
manner connected with such governmental program or agency. |
| (3) |
No advertisement shall use any
combination of words, symbols, or physical materials which by their content,
phraseology, shape, color, or other characteristics are so similar to a
combination of words, symbols, or physical materials used by a non-insurance
company with which the individual has a financial relationship or otherwise
appear to be of such a nature that it tends to mislead or deceive prospective
insureds into believing that the purchase of insurance is required by such
company. |
| (4) |
An advertisement for
any specific policy shall clearly inform the prospective purchaser of the full
name of the insurance company which will issue the policy. An advertisement for
the sale of life insurance by any agent shall clearly inform the prospective
purchaser of the full name of all insurance companies which said agent is
authorized to represent. |
| (1) |
An advertisement which is intended or not
intended to be seen or heard beyond the limits of the jurisdiction in which the
insurer is licensed shall not imply licensing beyond such limits. |
| (2) |
An advertisement may state that an
insurer is licensed in the state which the advertisement appears, provided it
does not exaggerate such fact or suggest or imply that competing insurers may
not be so licensed. |
| (3) |
An
advertisement shall not create the impression that the insurer, its financial
condition or status, the payment of its claims, or the merits, desirability, or
advisability of its policy forms or kinds of plans of insurance are recommended
or endorsed by any governmental entity. However, where a governmental entity
has recommended or endorsed a policy form or plan, such fact may be stated if
the entity authorizes its recommendation or endorsement to be used in such an
advertisement. |
An advertisement shall not contain statements, pictures,
comparative financial ratios, or illustrations which are false or misleading,
in fact or by implication, with respect to the assets, liabilities, insurance
in force, corporate structure, financial condition, age or relative position of
the insurer in the insurance business. An advertisement shall not contain a
recommendation by any commercial rating system unless it clearly defines the
scope and extent of such recommendation.
| (1) |
No insurer,
agent or counselor shall in connection with the consultation, service or
advertisement of a policy:
| (a) |
State,
represent or imply that a prospective policyholder or certificateholder will
receive the right to benefits which are not a part of the policy itself, or
made an effective part of the policy by rider or other instrument approved by
and on file with the Georgia Insurance Department; |
| (b) |
Represent or imply that any financial
ratio, illustrative material or advertisement, including pictures, diagrams,
charts, projections, or other material, has been approved or sanctioned by the
Georgia Insurance Department; |
| (c) |
Make or issue any statement or representation that premiums paid are ever
withdrawable without reference to the cash surrender value or loan provisions
of the policy, or in any manner other than that expressly contained in the
policy form, except that premiums paid in advance of the current due date may
be withdrawn under the conditions of the prepayment agreement; |
| (d) |
State, represent or imply that profits
are derived from lapses and surrenders; |
| (e) |
Represent that the mere size of a life
insurance company or its total insurance in force necessarily affects either
the solvency or the reliability of life insurance or annuity policies issued by
such insurer; |
| (f) |
Make or issue any
statement which would lead a prospective buyer or policyholder of life
insurance or annuity to believe that he is purchasing stock in an insurance
company by acquiring such life insurance or annuity; |
| (g) |
Make or issue any statement which will
tend to lead a prospective buyer or policyholder to believe that, by purchasing
a policy, he will acquire a position similar to that of a stockholder of the
company, or make or issue any statement which permits the inference that
policyholders are entitled to benefits or profits on the same basis as
stockholders; |
| (h) |
State or
represent that a prospective policyholder will receive dividends, or special or
favored treatment in the allowance or payment of dividends, or other monetary
benefits not expressly provided in the policy; |
| (i) |
Make or issue statements or illustrations
of projected future dividends unless the dividend formula or dividend scale
upon which such statements or illustrations were made complies with the
applicable provisions of the Georgia Insurance Code and the Rules and
Regulations of the Georgia Insurance Department; |
| (j) |
Make or issue statements indicating that
because a prospect has agreed to furnish leads, he is entitled to any specific
benefits not available to all policyholders generally; |
| (k) |
Represent as a return of premium or as a
return of cash surrender value an increasing term insurance provision in any
insurance policy, such as an amount of insurance equal to the sum of premiums
paid to a certain date, or as an amount of insurance equal to the cash
surrender value, as anything other than a guaranteed insurance benefit, a
charge for which is included in the premium; |
| (l) |
Use a dollar amount or any other figure
in printed material to be shown to prospective policyholders unless accompanied
by language in such material indicating the nature and source of the
figure; |
| (m) |
State or imply that a
policy contains features or benefits which are not found in other life
insurance policies, unless that be true; |
| (n) |
Make any reference or statement implying
that a policy is sold or issued or is serviced by the investment department of
an insurer; and |
| (o) |
Use terms such
as financial planner, investment advisor, financial consultant, or financial
counseling in such a way as to imply that the person who is engaged in the
business of insurance is generally engaged in an advisory business in which
compensation is unrelated to sales unless such is actually the case. During the
solicitation of, negotiation for, or procurement or making of a contract of
life insurance or annuity contract, no person may engage, advertise, or render
opinions as to the benefits promised under any contract of insurance or offered
by any insurer, or as to the terms, value, effect, advantages or disadvantages
thereof unless such person is properly licensed in accordance with Chapters
33-23-1 to 33-23-22 of the Georgia Insurance Code. Further, no person engaged
in the business of insurance may hold himself out, directly or indirectly, to
the public as a financial planner, investment advisor, financial consultant, or
financial counselor or as any other specialist engaged in the business of
giving complete financial planning advice relating to investments, insurance,
real estate, tax matters and trust and estate matters unless such person in
fact is generally engaged in such business and does, in fact, render such
services. Not included in "such services" is the presentations of computer
printouts that fall into the category of advanced programming for the purpose
of selling a policy and are routinely provided by insurers or other
organizations. Terms such as financial planner, investment advisor, financial
consultant, or financial counselor may not be used by a person engaged in the
business of insurance where such person provides advice relating to
investments, real estate, tax matters and trust and estate matters, which is
merely incidental to the conduct of his insurance business. |
|
| (2) |
The following are applicable
to the advertising of all policies:
| (a) |
The
basic life policy death benefit must be shown as a single amount, not
arbitrarily or deceptively split into two or more parts, implying that there is
a relationship between some part of a premium and some part of the death
benefit, unless such is the fact and provided the relationship is not for the
purpose of nor may likely have the effect of misleading or deceiving an
individual. |
| (b) |
If nonforfeiture
values are shown, they must be shown either for the entire amount of the basic
life policy death benefit or for each $1,000 of initial death
benefit. |
| (c) |
No statement or
representation may imply the existence of an actuarial relationship between a
specific premium, or portion thereof, and a specific benefit, or portion
thereof, provided under a policy where, in fact, none exists. No premiums, or a
portion of a premium, may be presented as an "additional," "separate," or
"special" premium unless there is an actuarial relationship between such
premium, or portion thereof, and some specifically identifiable benefit or
portion thereof. |
| (d) |
No artificial
relationships among interest rates, premiums and benefits or portions thereof,
may be implied or created. |
| (e) |
No
person or advertisement shall state or imply that on the death of the insured,
the beneficiary will receive, or should have received, the cash value of a
policy in addition to the face amount. This rule is not intended to prohibit
the advertising of an increasing term benefit equal to the cash value and for
which a premium has been paid. |
| (f) |
No person or advertisement shall state or imply in any way that interest
charged on a policy loan or the reduction of death benefits by the amount of
outstanding policy loans is unfair, inequitable, or in any manner an incorrect
or improper practice. |
| (g) |
No person
or advertisement shall state or imply in a misleading manner that the policy
cash value is the policyowner's "savings" or that the policyowner owns the cash
value. The use of savings "passbooks" and such similar misleading techniques is
prohibited. |
| (h) |
Analogies between
cash value and savings accounts and between premium payments and contributions
to savings accounts are prohibited unless such analogy completely and clearly
explains both the similarities and the difference between the items so compared
and further, unless it is made clear that such representation is an analogy
only and that, in fact, cash values and premium payments are not the same as a
savings account and contributions thereto. |
| (i) |
No advertising material or oral
presentation may make incorrect, misleading or unfair statements about other
life insurance products, agents, and insurers. |
| (j) |
No advertising shall state or imply that
a policy being offered for sale is pure term insurance unless the policy is in
fact pure term insurance. |
| (k) |
Life
insurance policies shall not be compared to savings accounts, stocks, bonds, or
any other financial instrument or investment in such a way as to mislead a
person as to the true nature of life insurance or life insurance surrender
values or other policy benefits. |
| (l) |
Advertisements may not imply or state
that all older policies are more costly than newer policies or that all newer
policies are more costly than older policies unless such is a provable
fact. |
| (m) |
No advertisement shall
imply or state that if a life insurance company becomes insolvent, other
companies will always take over the liabilities of the insolvent
company. |
| (n) |
The use of words such
as "deposit," "deposit premium," "investment," or other such misleading or
confusing terminology to refer to an amount which is a premium as defined in
Section 33-24-1 of the Georgia Insurance
Code is prohibited. |
| (o) |
A system or
presentation which does not recognize the time value of money through the use
of appropriate interest adjustments shall not be used for comparing the cost of
two or more life insurance policies. Such a system may be used for the purpose
of demonstrating the cash-flow pattern of a policy if such presentation is
accompanied by a statement disclosing that the presentation does not recognize
that, because of interest, a dollar in the future has less value than a dollar
today. |
|
| (3) |
The use of
materials, statements or communications of any kind, which when used alone is
not misleading, but becomes deceptive or misleading when combined, is
prohibited. |
| (1) |
Each insurer shall maintain at its home
or principal office a complete file containing a specimen copy of every
printed, published, or prepared advertisement of its individual policies and
specimen copies of typical printed, published, or prepared advertisements of
its blanket, franchise, and group policies, hereafter disseminated in this
State, with a notation indicating the manner and extent of distribution and the
form number of any policy advertised. Such file shall be subject to inspection
by the Georgia Insurance Department. All such advertisements shall be
maintained in said file for a period of either four years or until the filing
of the next regular report on the examination of the insurer, whichever is the
longer period of time. |
| (2) |
Each
insurer subject to the provisions of these rules shall file with this
Department with its Annual Statement a certificate of compliance executed by an
authorized officer of the insurer wherein it is stated that to the best of his
knowledge, information, and belief the advertisements which were disseminated
by or on behalf of the insurer in this State during the preceding statement
year, or during the portion of such year when these rules were in effect,
complied or were made to comply in all respects with the provisions of these
rules and the insurance laws of Georgia as implemented and interpreted by these
rules. |
It is not intended that these rules conflict with or
supersede any rules currently in force or subsequently adopted in this State
governing specific aspects of the sale or replacement of life insurance
including, but not limited to, rules dealing with life insurance cost
comparison indices, deceptive practices in the sale of life insurance, and
replacement of life insurance policies. Consequently, no disclosure required
under any such rules shall be deemed to be an advertisement within the meaning
of these rules.
If any Section or portion of a Section of this Regulation or
the applicability thereof to any person or circumstances is held invalid by a
court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of the rules or the
applicability of such provision to other persons or circumstances, shall not be
affected thereby.
Any insurer, or agent, counselor, representative, officer or
employee of such insurer, failing to comply with the requirements of this
Regulation shall be subject to such penalties as may be appropriate under the
Insurance Laws of this State.
