MEP Alfred Sant's calls for the European Commission to put off the introduction of an Insurance Directive by eight months have swayed his Socialist and Deomcrat MEP colleagues.

Dr Sant voiced concerns raised by the Malta Insurance Association.

S&D MEPs will be voting in favour of amendments which would postpone the Directive's application date to 1 October 2018 instead of 23 February 2018, as the Commission has decided.

The amendents will be voted on tomorrow at the European Parliament's Economic and Financial Committee, having been tabled by the EPP's Werner Langen following Dr Sant's request to Commission vice-president Valdis Dombrovskis to hold off implementing the Directive.

Dr Sant's request came following concerns from the local insurance sector that they were ill-prepared to introduce the Directive and needed more time to do so. The Directive's February 2018 deadline, Dr Sant told the Commission, had badly hit insurance operators in small member states such as Malta.

The Insurance Distribution Directive (IDD) aims to establish the conditions necessary for fair competition between distributors of insurance products and to create more opportunities for cross-border business.