North Dakota Insurance Laws, Regulations and Department Practices
The regulator
North Dakota's insurance market is supervised by the Insurance Department, headed by the Commissioner of Insurance - an elected statewide official serving a four-year term, headquartered in Bismarck. The Commissioner enforces ND Century Code Title 26.1, licenses insurers and producers, conducts financial and market-conduct examinations, holds hearings, issues cease-and-desist orders, levies fines, and may suspend or revoke licenses. The Department also runs consumer assistance and insurance-fraud functions.
Producer duties
A producer must hold a license for each line of authority sold and be appointed by the insurer. Licenses renew on a biennial cycle that includes a continuing-education ethics component. Producers must keep the Department informed of address changes, criminal prosecutions, and administrative actions taken by other regulators (commonly within 30 days of final disposition). Premiums are not the producer's money: they must be held in trust and never commingled with personal funds.
Unfair trade practices - where exam questions live
Misrepresentation, twisting (replacing coverage through misrepresentation), churning, rebating, illegal inducement, defamation, coercion or boycott, and unfair discrimination are all prohibited. Life and annuity replacements require signed disclosure and comparison so the existing insurer can respond. Annuity sales must meet suitability/best-interest standards with enhanced senior protections.
Insolvency backstop
The North Dakota Life and Health Insurance Guaranty Association pays covered claims up to statutory caps. It is a backstop, not a government guarantee, and it does not make every contract whole.
Rule of thumb: if an answer choice has the producer hiding information or profiting personally at the client's expense, it is the violation. Also separate the free-look period (a return right after delivery) from the contestability period (the insurer's two-year right to rescind) - questions deliberately swap them. Verify current numeric limits in the statute before relying on a specific figure.