Tennessee Code Annotated
Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-2-105 (2026)
Certificate of authority required - Exceptions
✓ current as of May 2026
It is unlawful for any company to enter into a contract of insurance as an insurer or to transact insurance business in this state without a certificate of authority from the commissioner; provided, that this section shall not apply to:
- (1) Contracts procured by agents or brokers under the authority of the Surplus Lines Insurance Act, compiled in chapter 14 of this title;
- (2) Contracts of reinsurance;
- (3) Transactions in this state involving policies lawfully solicited, written and delivered outside of this state covering only subjects of insurance not resident, located or expressly to be performed in this state at the time of issuance or covering property in the course of transportation by land, air or water, to, from or through this state and including any preparation or storage incidental thereto, and which transactions are subsequent to the issuance of those policies;
- (4) Transactions in this state involving group or blanket insurance and group annuities where the master policy of the groups was lawfully issued and delivered in a state in which the company was authorized to transact insurance business;
- (5) Transactions in this state involving a policy issued prior to April 3, 1968;
- (6) Any life insurance or annuity company that holds a certificate of exemption from the commissioner as provided in § 56-2-106; or
- (7)
- (A) The procuring of contracts of insurance issued to an industrial insured;
- (B) For the purposes of subdivision (7)(A), an "industrial insured" is an insured:
- (i) Who procures the insurance of any risk or risks by use of the services of a full-time employee acting as an insurance manager or buyer;
- (ii) Whose aggregate annual premiums for insurance on all risks total at least twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000); and
- (iii) Who has at least twenty-five (25) full-time employees.
Acts 1968, ch. 536, § 1; 1969, ch. 270, § 19; T.C.A., § 56-205.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 3
cases (1 in the last 5 years), 1983–2025 · leading case: Keystone Ins. Co. v. Griffith, 659 S.W.2d 364 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1983).
Keystone Ins. Co. v. Griffith, 659 S.W.2d 364 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1983). “T.C.A. § 56-2-105 sets forth several exceptions to the requirement of a certificate of authority as to certain transactions by insurance companies.”
Applied Underwriters Captive Risk Assurance Co., Inc. v. Tennessee Dep't of Com. & Ins. (Tenn. Ct. App. 2025). “§ 56-2-102 (a) 4 Tennessee Code Annotated section 56-2-105 requires insurance companies, subject to certain exceptions, to obtain a “certificate of authority from the commissioner” prior to “enter[ing] into a contract of insurance as an insurer or [ ] transact[ing] insurance…”
Leslie Newman, Comm'r of the Tennessee Dep't of Com. & Ins. v. Smart Data Solutions, LLC (Tenn. Ct. App. 2011). “The petition and application alleged that the entities and individuals constituted an unlicensed and unregulated insurance entity conducting insurance business in violation of Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-2-105 . Statutory grounds for the relief requested were Tenn.”
Tenn. Code Ann. § 56-2-105(3): 1 case
Keystone Ins. Co. v. Griffith, 659 S.W.2d 364 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1983). “T.C.A. § 56-2-105 sets forth several exceptions to the requirement of a certificate of authority as to certain transactions by insurance companies.”
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