(a) Except as otherwise provided in this Article, no licensed insurance producer of an insurer authorized to solicit and accept premiums for motor vehicle insurance or any component thereof by the company he represents shall refuse on behalf of said company to accept any application from an eligible risk for such insurance and to immediately bind the coverage applied for and for a period of not less than six months if cession of the particular coverage and coverage limits applied for are permitted in the Facility, provided the application is submitted during the insurance producer’s normal business hours, at his customary place of business and in accordance with the insurance producer’s customary practices and procedures. The commission paid on the insurance coverages provided in this Article shall not be less than the commission on insurance coverage written through the North Carolina Insurance Plan on May 1, 1973. The same commission shall apply uniformly statewide.

(b) It shall be the responsibility of the insurance producer to write the coverage applied for at what he believes to be the appropriate rate level. If coverage is written at the Facility rate level and the company elects not to cede, the policy shall be rated at a rate under Article 36 of this Chapter. Coverage written at a rate under Article 36 of this Chapter that is not acceptable to the company must either be placed with another company or rated at the Facility rate level by the insurance producer. (1973, c. 818, s. 1; 1977, c. 828, s. 11; 1995, c. 517, s. 23; 2022-46, s. 14(ww).)