100 insurance law changes proposed

The Law Reform Commission will today launch its insurance contracts report, which will make 100 recommendations for changing legislation that governs agreements between insurance companies and their customers.

The wide-ranging recommendations will include reform of the definition of “consumer”, duty of disclosure, and the onus on insurers to compensate a consumer who has made innocent or negligent mistakes in their disclosure.

The 305-page report says that many of the laws governing Irish insurance date from 18th and 19th-century English case laws. Its authors propose to modernise the laws to reflect that most insurers are multinational corporate bodies with large financial, technical, actuarial, and human resources.