The General Insurance Standards Council has lost its latest legal battle over the imposition of new rules governing the sale of insurance policies.

The Competition Commission has upheld an appeal by the Institute of Insurance Brokers (IIB) and ABTA against the Director General of Fair Trading. He had ruled that a GISC rule (Rule F42) that effectively said that its members could only deal with other members would not “give rise to an appreciable restriction or distortion of competition”, prompting the IIB and ABTA appeal.

The GISC had already once postponed the implementation of its new rules from September 1 to October 15.

It is now considering the Competition Commission Appeal Tribunal's decision.

Chris Woodburn, GISC chief executive, said: “In response to the Government's wish, GISC has been established with the interest of consumers at its core. We now have more than 7,000 members and applicants, of whom more than 100 are insurers accounting for well over 85% of gross premium income in the UK. Enormous progress has been made in developing the current GISC requirements, which have been the subject of extensive industry consultation. We will give careful consideration to the CCAT decision, particularly in the context of how effective regulation is to be achieved across the industry.”