On 20 December 2017 the European Commission proposed a draft Directive to postpone the implementation (but not transposition) of the Insurance Distribution Directive (2016/97/EU or “IDD”) by seven months to 1 October 2018. This postponement has been requested by 16 Member States and the European Parliament. A delay is sought to enable smaller intermediaries to prepare for the new IDD regime.Both the European Parliament and the European Council will need to agree to the amending Directive (likely to go through an accelerated legislative procedure) if the IDD is to be delayed.