WASHINGTON — The National Association of Professional Insurance Agents (PIA) has agreed to work with the Association for Cooperative Operations Research and Development (ACORD) and other groups to address a growing concern in the property and casualty insurance industry by clarifying several issues surrounding certificates of insurance.

PIA met recently with the chief compliance officer for ACORD and agreed to jointly develop a series of education pieces designed to help people understand what certificates of insurance are used for, what they mean and perhaps most importantly, what they do not mean.

Such an effort has become increasingly necessary as agents and brokers are under increasing pressure to sign off on forms, so called "certificates of insurance," that are provided to non-insurance entities as a summary of certain coverages, often as part of a contractual relationship.

Challenges are further exacerbated when insurance customers threaten to "take their business elsewhere," when PIA members can't make the changes on the certificates that are being demanded.

PIA is committed to working with all interested parties in each jurisdiction to make clear that altering certificates of insurance is prohibited by insurance law and practice. Through making refinements to insurance regulations and/or statutes, we are working to provide resolutions to these situations. PIA National.s Business Issues Committee has worked on the issue since 2007.

In 2009 and then adding to it in 2010, PIA of Louisiana developed successful changes to both insurance regulation and legislation that clarified what an authorized certificate of insurance is, who may issue these, and requires third-party created forms to be pre-filed and approved by the Louisiana Department of Insurance before they can be used.

Drawing upon this outcome, as well as successful approaches used in other states, PIA has developed a model regulatory framework addressing concerns surrounding certificates of insurance. PIA National will continue to assist PIA affiliates in crafting and reviewing draft legislation, regulations and bulletins in each state and encourage that they work together with other producer and carrier trade groups.

PIA National will approach the National Conference of Insurance Legislators (NCOIL) to move a uniform response, and determine if the National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) may now be interested in joining an effort to forge an industry consensus.

By working with ACORD on education pieces, PIA's goal is to provide legislators and regulators across the country with the information they need. ACORD is a global, nonprofit standards development organization serving the insurance industry and related financial services industries. It was founded by agents and brokers 40 years ago, including PIA.