Provision for premium refunds

(1) Amounts allocated to the provision for premium refunds may be used only for the surplus participation of the insured, including the participation in unrealised gains prescribed by section 153 of the Insurance Contract Act. In exceptional cases, the provision for premium refunds, insofar as it does not relate to surplus shares already fixed, may, with the consent of the supervisory authority, be drawn on in the interest of the insured, in order to 1. avert an imminent emergency, 2. offset unforeseeable losses arising from the surplus-participating insurance contracts, attributable to general changes in circumstances, or 3. increase the premium reserve where the actuarial bases must be adjusted due to an unforeseeable and not merely temporary change in circumstances. In the case of measures under the second sentence, points 2 or 3, the insured portfolios must be charged on a causation-oriented basis.
(2) A deficiency endangering the interests of the insured exists where, in surplus-participating insurance, 1. no adequate allocation is made to the provision for premium refunds, or 2. no adequate use is made of the funds in the provision for premium refunds. This is to be assumed, in particular, where 1. in the case of the first sentence, point 1, the allocation to the provision for premium refunds of a life insurance undertaking, taking into account the direct credit and the actuarial interest, does not correspond to the minimum allocation fixed by statutory instrument under section 145(2), and 2. in the case of the first sentence, point 2, the unallocated portion of the provision for premium refunds exceeds the maximum amount fixed by statutory instrument under section 145(3).
(3) The supervisory authority may require that it be submitted 1. a plan to ensure adequate allocations to the provision for premium refunds (allocation plan), where the allocation to the provision does not meet the minimum requirements of the statutory instrument under section 145(2), or 2. a plan for the adequate use of the funds in the provision for premium refunds (distribution plan), where the unallocated portion of the provision exceeds the maximum amount of the statutory instrument under section 145(3).
(4) Life insurance undertakings may establish, within the provision for premium refunds, one or more collective portions, allocated to the surplus-participating contracts as a whole.