The ACPR also invited insurers to be of good-faith with respect to Covid-19-related claims and to reply to such claims in a timely manner. Some of the policies provide coverage for business interruption loss which directly result from physical damage to the property. As such, France permits aggregation of losses both in liability and property insurance, under statutory law for the former and under freedom of contract for the latter. In general, these terms are defined in the insurance policies and their meaning is different depending on what is provided. France is a civil-law country, as opposed to common law. Please give a short description of the legal basis. In its decision, the Court had to interpret the notion of event in order to determine the starting point of the time limit. Nanakramguda Rd, Financial District, Gachibowli. Health insurance and bodily injuries totaled 25.2 billion EUR (30.95 billion USD) of premiums. Second, the notion of cause may refer to the doctrine of proximate cause (causalit directe et immediate), that is, the loss should be the immediate and direct consequence of the peril. Please read our compliance discussion guidelines. However, there is no specific statutory regime for the aggregation of claims for property insurance. Notwithstanding the above, a concept of jurisprudence constante (established case-law in English) is recognised in France in order to refer to the constant interpretation of a given rule of law by the courts. Please give a short description of the legal basis in your country. Regarding non-essential business, closures were imposed from 15/16 March to 12 May 2020, and imposed again from 30 October to 28 November 2020. Get in touch with us. It should be noted, however, that the above commitment to freeze premiums to benefit some of the insureds results from voluntary commitments of insurance companies in the course of their negotiation with the French Ministry of the Economy. Insurance policies analysed by the courts decisions rendered so far in the context of Covid-19 coverage disputes provided coverage for losses caused by administrative decisions. Accordingly, Article 1355 of the FCC provides that The authority of res judicata applies only to what was the object of a judgment. On this basis, a decision can only have legal force outside the procedure it was rendered if a triple identity is demonstrated: it is necessary that the thing claimed be the same; that the claim be based on the same cause; that the claim be between the same parties and brought by them and against them acting in the same capacities (Art 1355 of the FCC). Please give a short description of the conclusions in the judicial opinions or guidance. If the answer to the above question is no, does the country you are reporting on follow a civil code? Are regulators requiring or encouraging insurers to provide grace periods to insureds to make payments on premiums? The Cour de cassation rules in law, that is, it does not rule on the merits but only determiners whether the rule of law has been correctly applied by the second-degree judges. Please give a short description of the conclusions in such judicial opinions or guidance. French authorities have implemented inter alia the following measures: Please note that the applicability of these measures may be different depending on: the territory where the applicant is established (the measures applicable to overseas territories may differ from metropolitan France); the applicants business sector; and when the request was made as available relief measure may change over time. However, we emphasise that the above-mentioned decision did not specifically rule on this matter. Please give a short description of the legal basis and relevant jurisprudence. The Court of Appeal of Paris has ruled in their favour (Court of Appeal of Paris, 28 July 2020, no 20/06689). If the answer to the above question is yes, are the relief measures available to both individuals and businesses? According to which, 206bn had been mobilised by the end of March 2021 to support businesses during the Covid-19 crisis (nine per cent of Frances GDP). Indeed, Article L.124-1-1 of the FIC provides that the damaging event is the one which constitute the cause of the damage. <>>>
The France Property And Casualty Insurance Market is growing at a CAGR of <4.3% over the next 5 years. Please give a short description of the conclusions in such judicial opinions or guidance. endobj
Indeed, the right to determine the content of the contract is enshrined in Article 1102 of the FCC. The concept of damage refers to the harm or loss that the plaintiff suffers. In this matter, the pandemic was deemed a natural event (or peril) but not a natural catastrophe because the insurance contract at issue provided specific coverage for both natural events (or perils) and natural catastrophes. <>
At this stage, the issue of the possible qualification of the Covid-19 pandemic as a natural peril remains outstanding. Regarding the applicability of the FCC and the FIC, it should be noted that the principle speciala generalibus derogant according to which special provisions prevail over general rules is largely applied and directly sanctioned by the FCC (Art 1105 of the FCC). The proximate cause may be isolated by referring to either one of the two following theories: (1) the theory of adequate causality (thorie de la causalit adquate) a hierarchy between the different perils having contributed to the losses shall be established so as to isolate the adequate peril that could be said to have effectively caused the losses; (2) the theory of the equivalence of the conditions (thorie de lquivalence des conditions) by contrast, all the perils having contributed to the losses could be deemed as having equally caused the losses. Has the highest court in the country you are reporting about issued judicial opinions or guidance concerning whether insureds can aggregate claims arising out of Covid-19? July 2021: AXA IM prepares to spend EUR 2 billion on life sciences property. In other words, unclear exclusion clauses are not valid under French law and the judge does not interpret them. According to legal literature, the interpretation of Covid-19 in the context of loss causation depends on the disposition of the policy, in particular in function of whether the insurance contract aims at the cause of the insured losses (which could be the pandemic) or if it distinguishes between the cause and the event that caused the losses (J Bigot, RGDA Feb 2021, no 118f0, p 6). The French authorities issued various types of orders in response to Covid-19, in particular: If the answer to the question above is yes, were such orders issued nationally, by state/region or by local city/town. Please give a short description of the conclusions in such judicial opinions or guidance. Expand your international network, gain new business and learn about the latest legal developments through IBA digital content and events, with IBA membership. The contract interpretation method known as the extensive method, which seems to be generally applied by judges in relation to scope of coverage contract provisions. Has Covid-19 been deemed force majeure in the country you are reporting on? If the answer to any of the above questions regarding your countrys jurisprudence was no, please comment on whether there are any other official sources or authorities that have issued contributions to the interpretation of Covid-19 and property damage. The analysis showed that: For example, a number of insurance contracts concluded with AXA cover operating losses suffered by the insureds due to an administrative closure as a result of a contagious disease, murder, suicide, epidemic or intoxication. The ACPR has published its investigation on 23 June 2020. The natural disaster guarantee requires an inter-ministerial order (arrt interministriel) which recognises the state of natural disaster. The Committee for the monitoring and evaluation of financial support measures for businesses (Comit de suivi et dvaluation des mesures de soutien financier aux entreprises) published a report on 20 April 2021. Article 1190 of the FCC provides that in relation with a standard-form contract, that is, a contract not negotiated by the parties, the provisions of the contract must be interpreted against the party who put it forward. In its report published on 23 June 2020 (see Question 55), the ACPR considered that four per cent of insurance policies examined during its investigation were unclear with regards to Covid-19 coverage. The programme was preceded by a guest presentation by Laetitia Leonard-Reuter, CFO of Generali France. Nevertheless, non-professionals can sometimes benefit from provisions of the French Consumer Code. As such, Article D.3113-6 of the FCPH lists notifiable diseases under this regime. The judicial system in France is divided in two orders: the judicial (civil) order and the administrative order. 3 0 obj
The France Property & Casualty Insurance Market mainly consists primarily of auto, homeowners and commercial insurance. The France Property & Casualty Insurance Market is very competitive and growing across the nation as it's covering the maximum portion of Non-Life Insurance Segment there. This communication is carried out by doctors, the managers of public and private medical biology services and laboratories and the other health professionals mentioned in no 1 of II of this article, by means of the information systems mentioned in this article. (Law No.2020-546, 11 May 2020, art 11-VI.). This right is limited by the law and by public order. Moreover, Article L.113-1 of the FIC indicates that the validity of an exclusion clause is subject to the condition that it is clear and has a limited scope: first by requiring that the exclusion be clear, the legislator wants the clause to be clearly expressed, so that there is no doubt about the partys intention to restrict the scope of the guarantee; and second, the limited scope condition imposes on the parties a duty of precision that the exclusion must have perfectly determined content and not deprive the guarantee of its substance. In relation with administrative closures, the timeline of the relevant orders varies in function of the type of businesses: Regarding the ban on gatherings in France, indoors gatherings of more than 5,000 persons were prohibited as of 5 March 2020. data than referenced in the text. Please give a short description of the conclusions in such judicial opinions or guidance. stream
The notion of consequential loss (perte conscutive) is not defined by statutory law and case law. Companies over France are seeming to be focusing on these three main sectors separately for boosting the Property and Casualty Insurance Industry and expected to grow significantly through out the forecast period. Please provide a brief description of the legal framework applicable to insurance coverage disputes in the country you are reporting on. If yes, please give a short description of the conclusions in such judicial opinions or guidance. Please give a short description of the conclusions in such judicial opinions or guidance. The Perpignan Commercial Court has ruled that the Covid-19 epidemic did not constitute a material damage to the insured goods as required by the insurance policy (Perpignan Commercial Court, 26 October 2021, no 2020J201). But, new innovations, insurere interests towards getting secured and knowledge gained from the brands marketing and new product launching, the France Property & Casualty Insurance Industry is likely to get back on the track and will be growing throughout the forecast period. Non-life insurers maintained a high level of solvency with a ratio of 265% against 225% for insurance. Have any courts in the country you are reporting on otherwise determined that a pandemic or virus exclusion is unenforceable in response to Covid-19? Consequently, the exclusion must be worded in such a way that the insured is able to know exactly under which circumstances they will not be covered. In France there are 164 Tribunaux judiciaire, 210 Conseil de Prudhommes and 227 Tribunaux de Commerce. endobj
If the highest court in the country you are reporting about has not issued judicial opinions or guidance analysing whether Covid-19 is an originating cause of insured loss, have other courts in the country issued such opinions? Has the highest court in the country you are reporting about issued judicial opinions or guidance analysing whether Covid-19 is a covered event? The Cour de cassation has several chambers and hears all appeals (on a point of law) brought against second degree courts decisions. The relief measures implemented by French authorities are available to both natural and legal persons engaged in an economic activity that is particularly affected by the economic, financial and social consequences of Covid-19 and the measures taken to limit its spread. Please give a short description of the legal basis and relevant jurisprudence. In the absence of any such clause, a scholar tends to consider that Covid-19 should not allow the aggregating of claims related to business interruption losses (L Mayaux, Renouvellement annuel des contrats dassurance et clauses Covid, Le Club des Juristes, 26 November 2020). Please give a short description of the legal basis. As such, it appears that, although not being listed as a notifiable disease, a specific regime was put in place to create a requirement to notify the authorities of Covid-19 cases. Presentation of the 2022 budget of the Gabonese Federation of Insurance Companies, "Oak Fire", an unprecedented fire in California, SCOR's half-year results affected by the pandemic, the Russian-Ukrainian war and the drought in Brazil, CNP Assurances to raise its stake in Aviva Italy to 100%, Four African brokers to join Brokerslink's network, El Halla Najem, new Chairman of the Traffic Accidents Guarantee Fund (FGAC), AXA to sell a life and pension insurance portfolio in Germany, Emerging Asia, key driver of global insurance growth, Global insurance market projections for 2022 and 2023, Senior management reshuffles within five Algerian public insurance and reinsurance companies, Cameroonian insurance market: premium growth in 2021, Chinese insurers maintain a high solvency level, Lloyd's Europe, appointment of a Chief Underwriting Officer. 1 0 obj
As indicated above, the determination of whether Covid-19 constitutes a covered event depends on the wording of the insurance policy. As such, the decision of a judge is only meant to have legal force in the context of the case it was pronounced in. Please give a short description of the legal basis. Under French law, the validity and enforceability of exclusion clauses are conditioned by several requirements. Has the country that you are reporting about issued judicial opinions or guidance analysing whether Covid-19 is an originating cause of insured loss? Property and Casualty Insurance Claims in France are distributed mainly in 3 sectors occupying the maximum share by car insurance followed by multi-risk home insurance and further followed by professional property insurance. The Court of Appeal of Aix-en-Provence has ruled that the exclusion clause, which makes the application of the cover conditional on the existence of an epidemic confined to a single establishment in a departmental territory, was not limited and deprived the insurer of the substance of its obligation to cover business interruption losses resulting from an epidemic as provided in the insurance policy. Finally, in cases where the insurance contract was entered into with a consumer, the provisions of the French Consumer Code are susceptible to apply, in particular regarding issues of contract interpretation and abusive clauses. Consequently, a tenant could not invoke force majeure based on Covid-19 in order to avoid payment of rent (Court of Appeal of Caen, 21 October 2021, no 21/00882). In particular, pursuant to Article L 1131-1 of the FIC, exclusions clauses must be clear and have a limited scope (formelle et limite). Please give a short description of the conclusions in such judicial opinions or guidance. Please give a short description of the conclusions in the judicial opinions or guidance. 4 0 obj
If the country that you are reporting about did issue lockdown, stay-at-home or no-travel restrictions, were those orders suspended or revoked at any point in time? In this regard, several policy coverage disputes relating to Covid-19 have been brought before French courts. Please do not hesitate to contact me. Does the country you are reporting on permit aggregation of claims arising out of a single originating cause? To our knowledge, one decision has ruled on this matter and considered that each administrative closure decision separated by a reopening of the business should be considered a separate loss (Court of Appeal, Aix-en-Provence, 20 May 2021, no 2021/153, SARL Beraha). If the highest court in the country you are reporting on has not issued such jurisprudence, have other courts in the country you are reporting on interpreted this issue consistently? A second lockdown was imposed from 29 October to 15 December 2020. Article 1191 of the FCC provides that where a contract term is capable of bearing two meanings, the one which gives it some effect is to be preferred to the one which makes it produce no effect. Please describe the judicial system in short. By submitting, you confirm that you agree to Have courts in the country you are reporting on issued jurisprudence concerning whether insureds can aggregate claims arising out of Covid-19? Digital transformation is impacting the entire sector, creating new business models, a new customer experience, and a necessary evolution of the France Property & Casualty Insurance Industry. The technical cause is established as a condition for the aggregation of several claims on liability insurance. We will only describe the latter, which is composed of first degree courts, second degree courts, and the Supreme Court. Due to lockdown, the combined ratio of the motor class of business improved by 5.5 points to be set at 96.1% in 2020 compared to 101.6% one year earlier. However, court decisions in France have shown that in the context of insurance coverage dispute, depending on whether the dispute concerns the application of an exclusion clause or of whether the loss is covered by the insurance contract (application of a scope of coverage clause), the burden of proof weights on: the insured if the dispute is on whether or not the claim is covered by the insurance contract in relation to a scope of coverage clause (Cass Civ 1, 14 February 1989, No 87-11.752; Cass Civ 2, 30 May 2007, No 06-14.410); the insurer if the dispute is on whether or not the claim is subject or not to an exclusion clause in the contract (Cass Civ 1, 15 October 1980, No 79-17.075). In other words, is there uniformity in jurisprudence as to whether losses arising from Covid-19 constitute property damage? According to the Cour of cassation, an exclusion clause cannot be formal and limited if it must be interpreted (Cass Civ 1, 22 May 2001, no 99-10.849). However, this assertion must be considered in the light of the fact that insurance policies in France somewhat refer to administrative decisions to determine the scope of their coverage. However, unless the parties have agreed otherwise, monetary obligations cannot be affected by a force majeure event since those obligations are never entirely impossible to perform (Cass com, 16 September 2014, no 13-20.306). Travel restrictions orders prohibiting travel from certain countries to France were also enacted throughout the pandemic (eg, the United Kingdom on 20 December 2020, and Brazil). Have any courts in the country you are reporting on determined that a pandemic or virus exclusion is void as against public policy in the context of Covid-19? If the answer to the question above is yes, did the highest court in the country you are reporting about determine that losses related to Covid-19 were caused by the virus? If the prevention is permanent, the contract is terminated by operation of law, that is, without prior notice or any intervention of a judge. The Law No 82-600 of 13 July 1982 on the compensation of victims of natural catastrophes, which is codified within the FIC, provides for a mandatory coverage of damage resulting from a natural catastrophe (catastrophe naturelle) or a natural disaster, that is, resulting from the abnormal intensity of a natural agent (lintensit anormale dun agent naturel). facts. Statista assumes no Please give a short description of the conclusions in the judicial opinions or guidance. Therefore, parties are free to include a clause in a property insurance contract in order to aggregate claims arising out of a single (originating) cause. The notion of natural agent used in the French regime for natural catastrophe (French Cat Nat Regime) might seem similar to natural peril. If the answer is yes, please give a short description of the conclusions in the judicial opinions or guidance. Cova Insurance becomes the most decorated member of the ICS, which has around 400 member organisations spanning all industry sectors. In other words, is there uniformity in jurisprudence as to whether cedents may aggregate claims arising out of Covid-19? 2022. If yes, please give a short description of the legal basis and relevant guidance. It appears that the vast majority of court decisions rendered in France on this matter considered that the losses were caused by the administrative decisions taken in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic. Restrictions on gatherings in public place were finally lifted on 30 June 2021. In December 2021, Cova Insurance has become the first and only member of the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) to hold three simultaneous ServiceMark Accreditations with Distinction, the highest level of accreditation the Institute offers. Leading AM Best analysts delivered market insights and discuss the current state of the European (re)insurance market, Bests Credit Rating Methodology benchmarks and hot industry topics. The notion of non-professional refers to any legal person, that is, including juridical persons, who is not acting in the scope of its professional activity. As such, the legal issue of analysing whether losses have been directly caused by Covid-19 does not yet seem to have been addressed since the arguments focused on whether the business interruption loses incurred following the pandemic-related administrative decisions were covered. The ACPR stated that where contractual provisions are unclear, only the interpretation of the provision by a judge would resolve the uncertainties. Report scope can be Prohibition of gatherings orders both in private and public places, the first of which was enacted on 29 February 2020. French case law shows that these conditions are studied on a case-by-case basis and that crises cannot be considered in themselves as force majeure events. In other words, is there uniformity in jurisprudence as to whether Covid-19 is a cause of insured loss? For example, alternative suppliers of electricity invoked the extended force majeure clause in their contract with EDF concerning the impossibility of performance under reasonable economic conditions due to the Covid-19 crisis in order to obtain the suspension of their obligations. The most important key figures provide you with a compact summary of the topic of "Life insurance industry France" and take you straight to the corresponding statistics. New, Insights into the worlds most important health markets, Figures and insights about the advertising and media world, Everything you need to know about the industry development. Please give a short description of the legal basis. If the answer to the above question is yes, do courts in the country you are reporting about hold that losses related to Covid-19 are covered events? The concept of loss may refer to the notion of sinistre, perte or dommage in French. This concept covers operating losses. The notion of event (vnement) is not defined by statutory law. The second lockdown measure was then enacted on 30 October 2020 until 15 December 2020. Please give a short description of the conclusions in the judicial opinions or guidance. Accordingly, the court took the stand that the coverage of both types of events necessarily widened the scope of what should be deemed a natural event (or peril). <>
The above statements should not however be considered regulations strictly speaking. Briefly describe the types of relief measures available to individuals and businesses. In the course of the interpretation of a contract, a judge can consider the common intentions of the parties (Art 1188 of the FCC). This article provides that health professionals must notify the authorities of any cases of listed diseases. Please give a short description of the conclusions in such judicial opinions or guidance. If the answer to any of the above questions regarding your countrys jurisprudence was no, please comment on whether there are any other official sources or authorities that have issued contributions to the interpretation of Covid-19 and aggregating claims. We are always looking to hire talented individuals with equal and extraordinary proportions of industry Have courts in the country you are reporting on issued jurisprudence concerning whether cedents can aggregate claims arising out of Covid-19? %PDF-1.5
On 6 May 2020, the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority (Autorit de contrle prudentiel et de resolution) (ACPR) issued a press release stating that it will undertake an investigation into the coverage of business interruption losses relating to the high exposure of such insurance products due to the pandemic. Has the highest court in the country you are reporting about issued judicial opinions or guidance analysing whether Covid-19 is an originating cause of insured loss? More specifically, on 7 December 2020, in reaction with demands from the French Ministry of the Economy, insurance companies have, although on request, collectively committed to freeze insurance premiums for small and medium companies of less than 250 employees in the restaurant and hotel sectors, as well as companies in culture, events, sport and tourism. customized per your requirements. In so doing, please consider the following questions: Insurance coverage disputes in France are subject to the rules of the FCC, and the French Insurance Code (FIC). It should however be noted that in relation with coverage provisions, three tendencies can be singled out: Are exclusions interpreted narrowly or is there a presumption against finding that an exclusion to coverage applies? This is likely, in our view, to have shifted the debate and led judges and parties to focus on administrative decisions rather than the pandemic itself. Od the first degree courts: Tribunal judiciaire is competent to hear of general civil cases; Conseil de Prudhommes competent to hear of employment cases; and Tribunal de commerce competent to hear of cases between professionals qualified as merchants. and over 1Mio. As indicated above, to our knowledge, this legal issue has not been directly addressed by courts in France.
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