A. Subject to the requirement of § 38.2-1801, every licensed agent may sell policies and solicit applications for insurance for any one or more of the classes of insurance for which he is licensed on behalf of an insurer (i) also licensed in the Commonwealth for those classes of insurance and (ii) by which the licensed agent has not yet been validly appointed, subject to the following requirements:
1. The insurer shall, within 30 calendar days of the date of execution of the first insurance application or policy submitted by a licensed but not yet appointed agent, either reject such application or policy or notify the Commission of the appointment in a manner acceptable to the Commission. An insurer may elect to appoint an agent to represent all or some of the insurers within the insurer’s holding company system or group by the submission of a single notice of appointment for each appointment type applicable.
2. The insurer shall provide to the licensed agent, within the same 30-day period, a verification that the notice of appointment was provided to the Commission.
3. The Commission shall notify the appointing insurer if the appointment of the agent is invalid, and the insurer shall notify the agent in writing of the invalid appointment within five business days of receiving such notice from the Commission. Any agent who sells or solicits insurance on behalf of the insurer after being notified of an invalid appointment shall be in violation of this section and shall be subject to penalties as prescribed in §§ 38.2-218 and 38.2-1831.
B. Each agent’s appointment record shall be public information and shall be available for public inspection.
C. Each insurer shall pay a nonrefundable appointment processing fee, in an amount prescribed by the Commission, for each appointment notification submitted by the insurer to the Commission.
D. The prescribed appointment fee shall not be less than $7 nor more than $25.
E. All appointment processing fees collected by the Commission shall be paid directly into the state treasury and credited to the fund for the maintenance of the Bureau of Insurance as provided in subsection B of § 38.2-400.