The UK has backed the option of a European directive on supplementary pensions in its response to the green paper.

Pensions minister John Denham re-iterated the government's key concerns, already included in its submission to the European Commission, about the future di-rection of pensions reform.

The UK has come down against the level playing field arguments used by some continental insurers, with Denham stressing his believe that life insurance and pensions regulation should be kept separate. He noted that life insurance and pensions in the UK employed a similar regulatory framework but suggested that there were significant differences on a detailed level. The existing strict rules for life insurance should be kept, but they are clear-ly not appropriate for pension funds," he said.

Backing the diversified portfolio theory, he expressed his concern about any attempt to impose in-vestment restrictions. He des-cribed the draft directive on mobile workers as an important first step.

The Dutch government has also given its response to the green paper, stating that, on the whole, the issue does not apply to the Netherlands because its pensions provision is well developed. It does however express concern about any attempt to place restrictions upon pension funds' investments. The government is also sceptical about the practicalities of achieving portability of benefits across borders believing that the national systems are too diverse to allow this. John Lappin"

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