Insurance Producer Electronic Appointments

1 Department of Business Regulation Insurance Division 1511 Pontiac Avenue, Building. 69-2 Cranston, Rhode Island 02920 Insurance Bulletin Number 2024-6 Insurance Producer Electronic Appointments This bulletin was originally issued August 21, 2024. Based on feedback from those persons responsible for tracking/filing appointments, this bulletin was amended October 10, 2024 to address certain technical limitations with the original instructions. The purpose of this Bulletin is to provide appointment filing instructions for the newly enacted implementation of insurance producer electronic appointments, required to be filed through NIPR’s Insurance Appointment and Termination system beginning 01/01/2025. (2024 R.I. Public Laws Ch. 318 & 319, to be codified as R.I. Gen. Laws § 27-2.4-14.1 and to be documented in 230-RICR-20-50-5 Licensing and Renewal Fees) It is imperative for industry as well as those persons responsible for tracking/filing appointments to pay close attention to these very important details for the initial electronic requirement and for the transition from the Department’s longstanding Annual Contracted Producer Report (ACPR) to this electronic appointment process. The Department is transitioning from the calendar year Annual Contracted Producer Report (ACPR) appointment filing to real-time electronic appointments. During the initial transition year of 2025, there is a distinction to be made between electronic appointment filings and the final ACPR filing. During the month of January 2025, the Department will require all active appointments to be filed electronically. This means that any producer who is actively licensed and actively still appointed on January 1, 2025 must be appointed electronically with the appointment flowing through NIPR and landing on the national producer database; the Rhode Island fee is $15 per appointment filing. This also means that any producer who was appointed in 2024 and is no longer appointed on January 1, 2025 must be listed on the final ACPR and filed through OptIns by March 1, 2025, with the payment trigger still applicable (all producers must be listed and each of those listed producers who earned $100 or more in commission yields a $30 fee). We have also assembled some FAQ’s which can be accessed by clicking here. (READ THE NEXT PAGE) 2 Important details including fees and initial due date: • Insurance producer appointments are required for all individual insurance producers. • Appointments are not required or available for insurance producer business entities. • Appointments are required at the license level, not the line of authority. This means appointments are not required for each line of authority separately on an individual’s license and instead, the individual’s license reflects the appointment. • The fee for each appointment filing is $15 plus an NIPR processing fee. • All initial electronic appointment filings must be made between January 1 – 31, 2025. This initial appointment filing includes electronically appointing all producers who are currently appointed. During this time, true initial appointments are also required within fifteen (15) calendar days from the date the first insurance application is submitted. • All appointment filings made on or after 02/01/2025 are presumed to be brand new, first-time initial appointments, and must be made within fifteen (15) days from the date the first insurance application is submitted in accordance with R.I. Gen. Laws § 27-2.4-14.1 and 230- RICR-20-50-5 Licensing and Renewal Fees. Important details regarding annual appointment renewals: • Appointment renewals will be due January 31st each year beginning in 2026 and will be invoiced via NIPR. • All appointments must be renewed or terminated. • Appointment terminations must be made five business days prior to December 31st otherwise the appointment will be included on the appointment renewal invoice and must be renewed; no exceptions will be made to manually remove an appointment from an appointment renewal invoice. • Appointment invoices will be available for review and payment from January 1st through January 31st and must be paid by January 31st. All unpaid invoices will result in appointment deactivations on February 1st. • The fee for each appointment renewal is $15 plus an NIPR processing fee. • There is no state fee to terminate an appointment; there is an NIPR processing fee. Available appointment termination reasons/codes. Agent Moved Voluntary Termination Appointment in Error Company Merged Company Defunct or Liquidation Expired License Termination Company Indebtedness Inactivated by Cascade Status Change Death Merger Inadequate Production Relationship Termination Poor Policyholder Servicer Request Regulatory Review* (READ THE NEXT PAGE) 3 * If an insurance company terminates an appointment for the reason “Request Regulatory Review” they must take two important actions: 1. Terminate the appointment electronically via NIPR and choose the “Request Regulatory Review” appointment termination code, and 2. Report detailed information as required by R.I. Gen. Laws § 27-2.4-16(a) using a form we have made available on our website (click here for that form). Questions, comments, or requests for clarification about this Bulletin should be emailed to DBR.InsLic@dbr.ri.gov. Elizabeth Kelleher Dwyer Superintendent of Insurance Originally Issued August 21, 2024 Amended October 10, 2024 Amended September 08, 2025 Amendment Date Amendment Explanation October 10, 2024 Amended to address technical limitations identified in the original bulletin. September 08, 2025 Amended renewal processing dates to clarify that renewal invoices will be generated five business days prior to December 31st each year (not January 31st as previously stated). Also added a bullet point clarifying that appointment invoices will be available via NIPR between January 1 and January 31, and all unpaid invoices will result deactivation of those appointments on February 1st.