(a)(1) No person, firm, association or corporation shall act or aid in any manner in soliciting, negotiating or procuring liability insurance in this Commonwealth for a risk retention group unless such person, firm, association or corporation is licensed either as an insurance agent in accordance with section 603 of the act of May 17, 1921 (P.L. 789, No. 285), known as “The Insurance Department Act of one thousand nine hundred and twenty-one,”¹ or as an insurance broker in accordance with section 622 of “The Insurance Department Act of one thousand nine hundred and twenty-one.”²

(2) No person, firm, association or corporation shall act or aid in any manner in negotiating or procuring liability insurance in this Commonwealth for a purchasing group or for any of its members from an admitted insurer or a risk retention group unless such person, firm, association or corporation is licensed either as an insurance agent in accordance with section 603 of “The Insurance Department Act of one thousand nine hundred and twenty-one” or as an insurance broker in accordance with section 622 of “The Insurance Department Act of one thousand nine hundred and twenty-one.”

(b)(1) No person, firm, association or corporation shall act or aid in any manner in negotiating or procuring liability insurance from a nonadmitted insurer on behalf of a purchasing group unless such person, firm, association or corporation is licensed as a surplus lines agent in accordance with section 1615.³

(2) Notwithstanding the provisions of section 1615, a nonresident of this Commonwealth who acts in this Commonwealth solely on behalf of a purchasing group or a risk retention group in obtaining liability insurance with a nonadmitted insurer is exempt from the requirements of maintaining an office in this Commonwealth in order to obtain a surplus lines agent's license for the limited purpose of effecting coverage for such purchasing group or risk retention group.