Three generations of both life and non-life directives The first directives paved the way for any insurer authorised in any Member State to set up a branch, agency or establishment in any other EC state, without restriction by the host, subject only to the host’s regulatory requirements, now largely harmonised. The second generation created free movement of insurance services within the EC by abolition of restrictions to sell across national boundaries. The third generation completed the move towards a single insurance market by abolishing the right of a host nation to insist upon authorising insurers established in other Member States. Authorisation in one state became a Single European Licence, allowing an insurer, without authorisation from any other state: (a) to establish elsewhere; and (b) to sell into other states from establishments outside those states. Post-authorisation regulation is carried out by the insurer’s home state to complete the twin aims of single licence and home country control. See FOURTH MOTOR INSURANCE DIRECTIVE.