No L 330/50 Official Journal of the European Communities 29. 11. 90 COUNCIL DIRECTIVE v of 8 November 1990 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to direct life assurance, laying down provisions to facilitate the effective exercise of freedom to provide services and amending Directive 79/267/EEC (90/619/EEC) THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES, Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, and'in particular Articles 57 (2) and 66 thereof, Having regard to the proposal from the Commission (), In cooperation with the European Parliament (3), Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and Social Committee (%), Whereas it is necessary to develop the internal market in life assurance and in the operations referred to in First Council Directive 79/267/EEC of 5 March 1979 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provi- sions relating to the taking-up and pursuit of the business of direct life assurance (), hereinafter called the ‘First Directive’ as last amended by the Act of Accession of Spain and Portugal ; whereas, in order to achieve that objective, it is desirable to make it easier for assurance undertakings having their head office in the Community to provide services in the Member States, thus making it possible for policy-holders to have recourse not only to assurers established in their own country, but also to assu- rers which have their head office in the Community and are established in other Member States ; Whereas, under the Treaty, any discrimination with regard to freedom to provide services based on the fact that an undertaking is not established in the Member State in which the services are provided has been prohi- bited since the end. of the transitional period; whereas that prohibition applies to services provided from any establishment in the Community, whether it be the head office of an undertaking or an agency or branch; Whereas, for practical reasons, it is desirable to define provision of services taking into account both the assu- rer’s establishment and the place where the commitment is to be covered ; whereas, therefore, commitment should () OJ No C 38 of 15. 2. 1989, p. 7 and OJ No C 72 of 22. 3. 1990, p. S. (» OJ No C 175, 16.7.1990, p. 107, and Decision of 24 October 1990 (not yet published in the Official Journal). () OJ No C 298, 27. 11. 1989, p. 2. ~ () OJ No L 63, 13. 3. 1979, p. 1. also be defined ; whereas, moreover, it is desirable to distinguish between activities pursued by way of establish- ment and activities pursued by way of freedom to provide services ; Whereas it is desirable to supplement the First Council Directive in order in particular to clarify the powers and means of supervision vested.in the supervisory authori- ties; whereas it is also desirable to lay down specific provisions regarding the taking-up, pursuit and supervi- sion of activity by way of freedom to provide services ; Whereas policy-holders who, by virtue of the fact that they take the initiative in entering into a commitment in another State and thus place themselves under the protec- tion of the legal system of that other State, do not require special protection in the State of the commitment, should be granted complete freedom to avail themselves of the widest possible market in life assurance and in the opera- tions referred to in the First Directive ; whereas other policy-holders should also be afforded adequate protec- tion ; Whereas in the management of some group pension funds, the multiplicity and complexity of the various schemes and their close connection with social security schemes call for careful study ; whereas they should there- fore be excluded from the scope of the provisions specific to freedom to provide services contained in this Direc- tive ; whereas they will form the subject matter of another Directive ; Whereas the provisions in force in the Member States regarding contract law applicable to the activities referred to in the First Directive continue to differ; whereas the freedom to choose, as the law applicable to the contract, a law other than that of the State of the commitment may be granted in certain cases, in accordance with rules which take into account specific circumstances ; Whereas the First Directive’s provisions on transfer of portfolio should be reinforced and supplemented by provisions specifically concerning the transfer to another undertaking of the portfolio of contracts concluded by way of freedom to provide services; Whereas, in the interests of protecting policy-holders, Member States should, at the present stage of the coordi- nation process, be given the option of limiting the simul-