Wheaton, Ill., Oct. 17, 2007—The American Association of Insurance Services (AAIS) is releasing a newly revised and expanded guide to state compliance requirements related to policy forms and rating information.

AAIS is a national advisory organization that files forms, manuals, and other product resources used by more than 600 P/C carriers throughout the U.S. For 18 years, AAIS has provided its members with a free annual guide to state filing requirements. This year's edition is renamed the AAIS Compliance Guide to reflect the expanded scope of information provided in it.

In addition to updated information in existing sections, the Compliance Guide includes the following additions:

• A new section with tables listing requirements regarding the use of "SERFF," the System for Electronic Rate and Form Filing developed under the auspices of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. The tables indicate which jurisdictions have adopted the SERFF policy coding matrix, which ones are accepting electronic fund transfers via SERFF, and what other requirements jurisdictions may have.

• A new section with information on filing requirements for umbrella policy forms, endorsements, rules, and rates. This includes a table with citations from state laws governing umbrella policy filings, plus state-by-state information on how to adopt and/or modify AAIS Personal, Commercial, and Farm Umbrella products.

• New "company action" sections within existing sections with instructions for companies seeking to implement an AAIS form, rule, or rating information filing, whether it be in a new line or state or for an existing line and state affiliation.

"AAIS has been expanding the compliance material contained in this guide consistently over the past few years," says Larris Larsen, AAIS assistant vice president for compliance. "The new name reflects the Compliance Guide's new content and AAIS's continuing effort to improve and expand the compliance related resources material it publishes."

In all, the Compliance Guide provides nearly 600 pages of compliance information, broken down into sections and sub-sections covering general information, form filing requirements, rate and rule filing requirements, special inland marine filing requirements, state qualifications for "exempt commercial policyholders," and other topics, in addition to the new SERFF and umbrella policy sections.

One section covering "Applications, Binders, and Certificates of Insurance" was updated and reprinted with the permission of ACORD, Inc., Pearl River, N.Y., an organization devoted to improving agency-carrier communication through the standardization of forms and data transmission.

The Compliance Guide is available electronically for no additional charge to all companies that utilize at least one AAIS program. Companies not affiliated with AAIS can purchase an electronic copy of the guide for $400 by contacting Rick Maka, AAIS director of marketing, at rickm@AAISonline.com, or by calling 800-564-AAIS.