4. 7. 87 Official Journal of the European Communities No L 185/77 COUNCIL DIRECTIVE of 22 June 1987 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to legal expenses insurance (87/344/EEC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and in particular Article 57 (2) thereof, ) Having regard to the proposal from the Commission ('), Having regard to the opinion of the European Par- liament (3), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Whereas Council Directive 73/239/EEC of 24 July 1973 on the coordination of laws, regulations and adminis- trative provisions relating to the taking-up and pursuit of the business of direct insurance other than life assu- rance (*), as last amended by Directive 87/343/EEC (%), eliminated, in order to facilitate the taking-up and pursuit of such activities, certain differences existing between national laws ; Whereas, however, Article 7 (2) {(c) of Directive 73/239/EEC provides that ‘pending further coordination, which must be implemented within four years of notifica- tion of this Directive, the Federal Republic of Germany may maintain the provision prohibiting the simultaneous undertaking in its territory of health insurance, credit and suretyship insurance or insurance in respect of recourse against third parties and legal defence, either with one another or with other classes’; Whereas the present Directive provides for the coordina- tion of legal expenses insurance as envisaged in Article 7 (2) (c) of Directive 73/239/EEC; Whereas, in order to protect insured persons, steps should be taken to preclude, as far as possible, any conflict of interests between a person with legal expenses cover and his insurer arising out of the fact that the latter is covering him in respect of any other class of insurance referred to in the Annex to Directive 73/239/EEC or is covering another person and, should such a conflict arise, to enable it to be resolved; () OJ No C 198, 7. 8. 1979, p. 2. 2 O] No C 260, 12. 10. 1981, p. 78. () OJ No C 348, 31. 12. 1980, p. 22. () OJ No L 228, 16. 8. 1973, p. 3. () See page 72 of this Official Journal. Whereas legal expenses insurance in respect of disputes or risks arising out of, or Q’ connection with, the use of sea-going vessels should, in view of its specific nature, be excluded from the scope of this Directive ; Whereas the activity of an insurer who provides services or bears the cost of defending the insured person in connection with a civil liability contract should also be excluded from the scope of this Directive if that activity is at the same time pursued in the insurer's own interest under such cover; Whereas Member States should be given the option of excluding from the scope of this Directive the activity of legal expenses insurance undertaken by an assistance insurer where this activity is carried out in a Member State other than the one in which the insured person normally resides and where it forms part of a contract covering solely the assistance provided for persons who fall into difficulties while travelling, while away from home or while away from their permanent residence ; Whereas the system of compulsory specialization at present applied by one Member State, namely the Federal Republic of Germany, precludes the majority of conflicts ; whereas, however, it does not appear necessary, in order to obtain this result, to extend that system to the entire Community, which would require the splitting-up of composite undertakings ; Whereas the desired result can also be achieved by requiring undertakings to provide for a separate contract or a separate section of a single policy for legal expenses insurance and by obliging them either to have separate management for legal expenses insurance, or to entrust the management of claims in respect of legal expenses insurance to an undertaking having separate legal perso- nality, or to afford the person having legal expenses cover the right to choose his lawyer from the moment that he has the right to claim from his insurer; Whereas, whichever solution is adopted, the interest of persons having legal expenses cover shall be protected by equivalent safeguards ; Whereas the interest of persons having legal expenses cover means that the insured person must be able to choose a lawyer or other person appropriately qualified according to national law in any inquiry or proceedings and whenever a conflict of interests arises ;