(a) All product or system group policy and certificate forms shall be subject to the approval requirements of Insurance Law, section 2307(a), and shall comply with applicable Insurance Law, article 23 standards.

1. (1) Except as provided in paragraph (3) of this subdivision, all product or system group policy rates, including rating plans, rating rules, and rating classifications and territories shall be submitted to the superintendent pursuant to the applicable provisions of Insurance Law, article 23.

2. (2) Except as provided in paragraph (3) of this subdivision, rates and rating plans and rules for a product or system group policy written as inland marine insurance shall not be exempt from filing requirements.

   1. (i) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, in accordance with the provisions of section 2311 of the Insurance Law, individual rate filings for ‘a’ rated risks shall not be required to be filed with the superintendent.
   2. (ii) The insurer shall maintain all rating information used to support the rate in an individual underwriting file for each policy issued, in accordance with the records retention requirements of Part 243 of this Title (Regulation 52).
   3. (iii) As used in this section, an ‘a’ rated risk means any insurance coverage for which rates are individually determined based upon judgment because the insurer has not established a manual rate based upon experience, except that if the insurer acquires sufficient experience to establish, or the insurer itself has, a manual rate for such coverage, then such coverage shall no longer be considered an ‘a’ rated risk for such insurer.

   (3)

(b)

(e) Product or system group policy rates shall comply with applicable Insurance Law, article 23 standards, subject to the following factors:

1. (1) Premium reductions may be considered, based on actual or reasonably anticipated loss and expense experience of the group or where such expenses and experience can be fairly demonstrated.
2. (2) Rates shall not be deemed unfairly discriminatory in the event different premiums result for different groups with like loss exposure but different expense factors, or like expense factors but different loss exposures, where such differences can be fairly demonstrated.
3. (3) Rates, rating plans or rating rules recognizing loss or expense experience differences on a group basis, in comparison to like risks not in the group, shall be deemed rating classifications subject to the superintendent's approval pursuant to Insurance Law, section 2307.