On 1 October 2024, new legal rules will take effect requiring insurers to respond to and pay out on claims more quickly. The purpose of these changes is to give insured parties better protection and speed up the handling of claims. In this article, we discuss the key changes and what they mean for both insurers and insured.
Currently, insurers in some insurance sectors such as third-party motor vehicle and fire are subject to specific turnaround times for handling claims. Other insurance sectors lack such rules, though, and this often means long waiting times.
In order to optimise the functioning of insurance and set some limits, a number of changes are being made to the Insurance Law. The new rules, which will take effect on 1 October 2024, introduce a general legal framework for all insurance sectors, setting clear deadlines by which insurers must respond and pay out. The law is intended to ensure optimal claims settlement without unnecessary delays.
The applicable deadline depends on the type of insurance:
To enforce the application of the new rules, financial penalties will be imposed if certain response deadlines are not met:
These amounts will be automatically index-adjusted on 1 January.
The Law of 9 October 2023 simplifying the cancellation rules for insurance contracts will enter into force on 1 October 2024. The cancellation arrangements set out in Articles 84 and 85 of the Insurance Law will be amended, with the new arrangements applying to any contracts concluded or tacitly extended from that date.