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Article 3 of the EC Second Non-Life Directive provides that for the purposes of the First and Second Non-Life Directives any permanent presence of an undertaking in the territory of a Member State shall be treated in the same way as an agency or branch. This is the case even if that presence does not take the form of a branch or agency, but consists merely of an office managed by the undertaking’s own staff or of a person who is independent but has permanent authority to act for the undertaking as an agency would. In Kvaerner plc v Staatssecretaris van Financiën [2001] STC 1007, the ECJ held that:

“Article 3 of the Directive must therefore be interpreted as extending the concept of ‘agency or branch� in art 2(c) of the Directive so that it applies in the broadest sense, whatever the formal term used.’�

If there is no branch in this wide sense, which is broadly equivalent to a ‘permanent establishment� under international tax law (GIM10110), then any EEA insurer effecting contracts with UK residents or establishments will be ‘providing services�.