Regulated pension funds

(1) Pension funds may be regulated with the approval of the Federal Institute (regulated pension funds). The application to be regulated may be made by 1. pension funds in the legal form of a mutual insurance association, where a) the articles of association provide that insurance claims may be reduced, b) under the articles of association, at least 50 percent of the members of the highest representative body are to be insured persons or their representatives or, where only reinsurance business covering the sponsoring employer's obligations is conducted, the articles of association grant such a right to the policyholders, c) only the persons falling under section 17 of the Company Pensions Act, the managers or owners of the sponsoring undertakings, and persons assigned to the pension fund by law, or who continue the insurance relationship with the pension fund after termination of the employment relationship, are insured, and d) no accounted acquisition costs are charged for the intermediation of insurance contracts, and no remuneration is granted for the intermediation or conclusion of insurance contracts, and 2. pension funds for which the Federal Institute has determined that they satisfy the conditions of section 156a(3), first sentence, of the Insurance Supervision Act in the version of 15 December 2004. The Federal Institute approves the application where the conditions of the second sentence, point 1 or 2, are satisfied.
(2) Separate accounting associations under section 2(1), pension funds under Land supervision, and pension funds that are joint institutions within the meaning of section 4(2) of the Collective Agreements Act established under a generally binding collective agreement, are always regarded as regulated pension funds.
(3) Section 140(2), second sentence, and (4), section 145(2) and (3), and section 234(2), second and third sentences, and (6), do not apply to regulated pension funds. Section 210(3), first sentence, section 219(2), second sentence, and (3), point 1, letter b, and point 2, apply correspondingly. Insofar as insurance relationships were concluded before the pension fund's regulation and are not based on a scheme of operations approved by the supervisory authority, the technical business documents within the meaning of section 219(3), point 1, letter b, do not, by way of derogation from the second sentence, belong to the scheme of operations. Contrary to the first sentence, section 234(2), second and third sentences, continues to apply to the general terms of insurance in this case.
(4) Section 139(3) and (4) does not apply to regulated pension funds that have, with the approval of the supervisory authority, made provisions derogating from section 153 of the Insurance Contract Act in accordance with section 211(2), point 2, of the Insurance Contract Act. Regulated pension funds that have not made provisions derogating from section 153 of the Insurance Contract Act in accordance with section 211(2), point 2, of the Insurance Contract Act may, with the approval of the supervisory authority, calculate the security requirement arising from insurance contracts with an interest rate guarantee under section 139(4) using a different method.
(5) Where a regulated pension fund no longer satisfies the conditions of subsection (1) or (2), the Federal Institute determines, by administrative decision, that it is no longer a regulated pension fund. Section 234(6) applies correspondingly to insurance relationships that took effect before the date named in the administrative decision.