4. (1) In this Act—

“Act of 1942” means the Central Bank Act 1942;

“Act of 1964” means the Insurance Act 1964;

“Bank” means the Central Bank of Ireland;

“business expenses” means the expenses incurred by an insurance undertaking in acquiring and providing relevant classes of non-life insurance business;

“claim” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1;

“class of non-life insurance”, means any class of insurance, other than class 2, referred to in Part 1 of Schedule 1 to the European Union (Insurance and Reinsurance) Regulations 2015 (S.I. No. 485 of 2015);

“direct negotiation” includes negotiation involving, in whole or in part, the services of a solicitor or counsel;

“insurance undertaking” has the meaning assigned to it by section 15 of the Finance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2015;

“Irish-based risk” means a risk, falling within a relevant class of non-life insurance, that, by virtue of regulations under section 7 (1), is regarded, for the purposes of this Act, as a risk based in the State;

“large relevant claim” means a relevant claim, the estimated or realised settlement or award value of which is not less than €150,000;

“MIBI Agreement” means the Agreement on the Compensation of Uninsured Road Accident Victims dated 29 January 2009 between the Minister for Transport and the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland and includes any subsequent agreement which amends or replaces that Agreement;

“MIBI payments” means payments made, in respect of a particular year, by an insurance undertaking, pursuant to the MIBI Agreement, to the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Ireland, including any payments made, in respect of that year, by the undertaking to the latter body in respect of changes in the reserves of the latter during that year;

“Minister” means the Minister for Finance;

“policy” has the meaning assigned to it by section 1 of the Act of 1964;

F1["public moneys" means moneys charged on or issued out of the Central Fund or the growing produce thereof or provided by the Oireachtas;]

“relevant claim” shall be construed in accordance with section 2(2);

“relevant class of non-life insurance” means any class of non-life insurance that, by virtue of regulations under section 6(3), is specified to be a relevant class of non-life insurance for the purposes of this Act;

“relevant non-life insurance business” has the meaning assigned to it by section 3;

“settlement channel” shall be construed in accordance with subsection (2).

(2) A reference in this Act to a settlement channel shall be construed as a reference to the means by which a relevant claim is either—

(a) finally resolved - as referred to in subsection (4)(a), or

(b) finally disposed of in the insurance undertaking’s favour - as referred to in subsection (4)(b),

being any means that—

(i) involves a step or proceedings referred to in any of paragraphs (a) to (h) of subsection (3) being taken, or

(ii) without prejudice to what is referred to in paragraph (i), involves 2 or more steps or proceedings referred to in any of the foregoing paragraphs of subsection (3) (or elements of any of those steps or proceedings) being taken in a sequence whereby the final stage of them, in the opinion of the Bank, represents in practice a means by which a relevant claim may be so resolved or disposed of,

and a reference to the particular settlement channel used shall be construed as a reference to the particular step or proceedings, so referred to and taken (or, in the case of paragraph (ii), that which represents the final stage, as described in that paragraph, in the particular sequence of steps, proceedings or elements of them).

(3) Each of the following, in relation to a relevant claim, is a step or proceedings referred to in subsection (2) —

(a) direct negotiation, without that activity being preceded by employment of the procedures referred to in paragraph (b),

(b) the employment of the procedures under the Personal Injuries Assessment Board Act 2003,

(c) direct negotiation, subsequent to employment of the procedures referred to in paragraph (b),

(d) the final determination by a court of legal proceedings instituted in respect of the claim,

(e) the settlement of such legal proceedings,

(f) arbitration,

(g) mediation (within the meaning of the Mediation Act 2017), or

(h) any other means whatsoever.

(4) For the purposes of subsection (2) a relevant claim is—

(a) finally resolved when the claim is treated by the insurance undertaking as having been satisfied by it, and

(b) finally disposed of in the insurance undertaking’s favour when the claim is no longer treated by it as giving rise to any liability (actual or potential) on its part,

and (whether it is paragraph (a) or (b) that applies) the fact of the claim being so treated is (by whatsoever words used) stated in a record in writing prepared by the undertaking in the ordinary course of business.

(5) A reference in this Act to a record in writing or to a matter being recorded in writing includes a reference to any means, or the use of any means, by which a matter is recorded otherwise than in legible form but in a manner that enables the matter to be reproduced in legible form.