17:29A-49 Filing of territorial rating plan.

27. a. An insurer or rate filer shall file its territorial rating plan with the commissioner for the commissioner's approval. The commissioner shall approve the plan if he finds that the plan complies with the provisions of section 26 of this amendatory and supplementary act and the regulations promulgated thereto. If the commissioner does not believe that the territorial rating plan meets the standards established by this act or by regulation, or that the territorial rating plan would serve to work against competition among insurers in this State, he shall order that the plan be modified.

b. A filer may file for its use:

(1) an individual territorial rating plan which it has developed; or

(2) the common territorial rating plan established and approved pursuant to section 28 of this act.

c. Approved individual territorial rating plans shall be on file with the commissioner and available for review by filers subject to this section.

d. Every filer shall periodically review, at least once in every five-year period, the continued validity of the territorial rating plan which it is using and shall report its findings to the commissioner, along with such data as the commissioner deems necessary. If the commissioner finds that it is not in accordance with the standards established pursuant to section 26 of this act, he may order that the filer amend its plan or, if the filer fails to do so, require the filer to adopt the common territorial rating plan established pursuant to section 28 of this act.

e. Any filer or filers may object to the territorial rating plan used by another filer on the grounds that it (1) is anticompetitive; (2) does not meet the standards established by the commissioner pursuant to section 26 of this act; or (3) results in the insurer or filer not meeting its obligations pursuant to the provisions of section 27 of P.L.1990, c.8 (C.17:33B-15).

f. No territorial rating plan of any insurer or any rating organization filed with and approved by the commissioner pursuant to section 27 of this act shall be implemented by any insurer until the 180th day following the approval of the common territorial rating plan established by the commission created pursuant to section 28 of this act, but in no event no later than January 1, 2000.

L.1998,c.21,s.27.