Insurance law. The 6th edition of the Krems Insurance Forum at Danube University Krems focused on practical issues.
The sixth Krems Insurance Forum, which was held online for the first time on November 10, 2020 due to Covid-19, brought around 200 industry professionals and lawyers from Austria and Germany together via Zoom, according to the Danube University Krems.
It dealt with questions of liability, legal expenses insurance and insurance distribution law. The forum is a cooperation between the Department of Law and International Relations and the Association for Insurance Brokers and Consultants in Insurance Matters of the Austrian Chamber of Commerce.
“We are very pleased that the online offer from the Krems Insurance Forum was very well received. The numerous virtual appearances confirm how important the technically well-founded exchange as well as the constant updating of the state of knowledge is ”, says the organizer of the forum, Arlinda Berisha from the Department of Law and International Relations at Danube University.
From the Supreme Court judicature and assessment clauses
The forum dealt with the current judicature of the OHG on liability and legal protection insurance:
- Johann Höllwerth, judge of the Supreme Court in the 7th Senate, dealt with nine decisions of the Supreme Court in his remarks. In doing so, he spanned a range from questions of the scope of public liability insurance to the importance of the separation theory of private and professional areas in legal expenses insurance.
- Univ.-Prof. Michael Gruber, Head of the Research Institute for Private Insurance Law at the University of Salzburg, dedicated his lecture to the assessment clause in legal expenses insurance. He comes to the conclusion that the exclusion of disputes from a (also unit-linked) life insurance contract depends crucially on the wording of the relevant exclusion clause for capital transactions. The version of the ARB is also important here, as an assessment clause has only existed since the ARB 2007.
About D&O insurance and the GDPR
Felix Hörlsberger, lawyer and partner at Dorda in Vienna, discussed the special features of Directors and Officers (D&O) insurance, a special liability insurance for corporate bodies and managers. With these insurances on behalf of third parties (companies usually pay for their organs or certain special functions), among other things, the remuneration nature of a company-financed D&O premium is disputed.
In his remarks, Hörlsberger also discussed the waiver of contestation due to malice by the insurer, which is ineffective in advance according to the prevailing case law.
Kerstin Keltner, member of the extended management team at Koban Südvers Group, illustrated the challenges for insurance brokers due to the General Data Protection Regulation. The legality of the data processing was considered both in the light of Art 6 Paragraph 1 and Art 9 Paragraph 2 GDPR and in the light of Paragraphs 11a to 11d of the Insurance Contract Act. To this end, relevant decisions by the data protection authority were analyzed. The second focus was on the rights of the data subject, in particular the right to correction and deletion as well as the right to object.
To the areas of POG and brokerage
Marguerita Sedrati-Müller, lawyer in the insurance team at the Vienna business law firm Schönherr, offered insights into the area of POG (Product Oversight and Governance) with special attention to questions of demarcation and the effective interaction between insurers and insurance brokers.
According to the organizers, information was also provided about liability issues under civil law, for example in accordance with Section 28 (3) MaklerG, and the options available to the FMA under Section 275 (1) Insurance Supervision Act (VAG) including administrative penalties under Sections 256a and 322 VAG as well as Section 366c of the Trade Regulations.
The presentations were rounded off by Markus Freilinger, a lawyer specializing in insurance law in Vienna, and the subject of brokerage agreements with insurers. The implementation of the IDD, the EU Insurance Distribution Directive, and the GDPR have resulted in innovations that have led to adjustments in the clauses. For example, the newly introduced quality criteria, with which, among other things, the advice or further training of brokers is assessed, harbor pitfalls, as it is said.
The problem areas of the brokers’ extended advisory and information obligations, indemnity and complaint agreements and obligations from FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) were also discussed.
The next insurance forum and the conference proceedings
The event was opened by Friedrich Faulhammer, Rector of Danube University Krems. Erwin Gisch, Managing Director of the Association of Insurance Brokers, and Klaus Koban, Managing Director of the Koban Südvers Group, moderated the event. The seventh edition of the Krems Insurance Forum is planned for November 9, 2021. A conference proceedings for the 6th Krems Insurance Forum are being prepared by Manz-Verlag.
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