(1) No advisory organization or statistical agent shall provide any service relating to insurance subject to the Property and Casualty Insurance Rate and Form Act, and no insurer shall use the services of such advisory organization or statistical agent for such purposes, unless the advisory organization or statistical agent has been issued a certificate of authority by the director. Such certificate of authority shall expire on April 30 each year and shall be renewed annually if the advisory organization or statistical agent has continued to comply with the laws of this state and the rules and regulations of the director.

(2) No advisory organization or statistical agent shall refuse to supply any services for which it is licensed in this state to any insurer authorized to do business in this state and offering to pay the fair and usual compensation for the services.

(3) An advisory organization or statistical agent applying to the director for a certificate of authority shall include with its application:

(a) A copy of its constitution, charter, articles of incorporation, organization, agreement, or association, bylaws, plan of operation, and other rules or regulations governing the conduct of its business;

(b) The names of insurers that own or have control over the applicant, and a description of their ownership or control;

(c) The name and address of a resident of this state upon whom notices, process, or orders of the director may be served;

(d) Information showing its qualifications for acting in the capacity for which it seeks a certificate of authority;

(e) Biographical information on its officers; and

(f) Any other relevant information and documents that the director may require.

(4) Every applicant for a certificate of authority shall notify the director of all material changes in the information or documents on which its application was based. Any amendment to a document filed under this section shall be filed at least thirty days before it becomes effective.

(5) The director shall issue a certificate of authority stating the authorized activity of the applicant for those applicants that meet all requirements of the law and are competent, trustworthy, and qualified to provide the services proposed. The authorized activity of an advisory organization or statistical agent may be limited to specified lines or types of insurance.

(6) The director may at any time, after a hearing in accordance with section 44-7532, suspend or revoke the certificate of authority of an advisory organization or statistical agent that does not comply with the requirements of the act.

(7) An applicant requesting a certificate of authority to operate both as an advisory organization and as a statistical agent may be so authorized under a single certificate.

(1) No insurer, advisory organization, or statistical agent shall attempt to monopolize or combine or conspire with any other person to monopolize an insurance market or to engage in a boycott, on a concerted basis, of an insurance market.

(2) No insurer shall agree with any other insurer or with any advisory organization or statistical agent to require adherence to or to require use of any aspect of any rating system, form, prospective loss cost, dividend payment practice, underwriting rule or practice, survey, inspection, or similar material except as required by section 44-7524 or as is necessary to develop statistical plans. This subsection shall not apply to agreements between insurers under the same ownership.

(3) No advisory organization or statistical agent shall agree with any insurer or with another advisory organization or statistical agent to require adherence to or to require use of any aspect of any rating system, form, prospective loss cost, dividend payment practice, underwriting rule or practice, survey, inspection, or similar material except as required by section 44-7524 or as is necessary to develop statistical plans.

(4) The fact that two or more insurers, whether or not members or subscribers of an advisory organization, consistently or intermittently use the same rates, rating systems, forms, prospective loss costs, underwriting rules or practices, surveys, inspections, or similar materials shall not be sufficient basis to establish a violation of this section.

(5) No insurer, advisory organization, or statistical agent shall make any arrangement with any other insurer, advisory organization, statistical agent, or other person which has the purpose or effect of unreasonably restraining trade or of substantially lessening competition in the business of insurance.

Except as permitted in sections 44-7521 and 44-7522, no advisory organization or statistical agent shall compile, file, or distribute recommendations relating to rating systems that include profits, dividends, or expenses other than loss adjustment expenses.

A statistical agent may, for the lines of insurance for which it has been licensed:

(1) Develop statistical plans including territorial and class definitions;

(2) Collect and distribute statistical data from insurers or any other source;

(3) Collect, compile, and publish past and current rates charged by individual insurers if such information is also made available to the general public at no more than a reasonable cost;

(4) Collect and compile exposure and loss experience for the purpose of individual risk experience ratings;

(5) Undertake educational activities relating to the collection, compilation, or interpretation of insurance-related data;

(6) Distribute any other information that is filed with the director; and

(7) Furnish any other services, as approved or directed by the director, related to those enumerated in this section.

An advisory organization may, for the lines of insurance for which it has been licensed:

(1) Engage in those activities enumerated in section 44-7521;

(2) Prepare, file, and distribute prospective loss costs;

(3) Prepare, file, and distribute manuals of rating rules, rating schedules, experience rating plans and other supplementary rating information that do not include final rates, expense provisions, profit provisions, or minimum premiums;

(4) Prepare and distribute experience rating plan modifiers for individual policyholders;

(5) Prepare, file, and distribute factors, calculations, or formulas pertaining to classification, territory, and other variables;

(6) Prepare, file, and distribute increased limits factors, which may include an incremental profit load, also called a risk load;

(7) Conduct research and inspections in order to prepare classifications of public fire defenses or to evaluate the effectiveness of building codes and their enforcement;

(8) Conduct inspections to determine rating classifications for individual insureds;

(9) Consult with public officials regarding public fire protection as it would affect members, subscribers, and others;

(10) Conduct research in order to discover, identify, and classify information relating to causes or prevention of losses;

(11) Prepare, file, and distribute policy forms and gather information from members, subscribers, and others relative to the application and interpretation of the policy forms;

(12) Conduct research and inspections for the purpose of providing risk information relating to individual structures;

(13) If instructed by the director, file rates instead of prospective loss costs for assigned risk or other residual market mechanisms;

(14) Conduct research to determine the impact of statutory changes upon prospective loss costs;

(15) Undertake educational activities on the use of policy forms, analysis of losses, loss trends, loss reserves, expenses, and other policy form and ratemaking topics;

(16) For workers' compensation insurance, establish a committee that may include insurance company representatives to review the application of the classification system for individual insureds and to suggest modifications to the classification system;

(17) Distribute any other information that is filed with the director; and

(18) Furnish any other services approved or directed by the director related to the services enumerated in this section.

Filings by an advisory organization of prospective loss costs, rating systems or policy forms and related attachment rules shall be subject to the provisions of the Property and Casualty Insurance Rate and Form Act applicable to filings generally. Rating system filings by an advisory organization shall be subject to the provisions of sections 44-7510 and 44-7511.