03/14/2023 | News release | Distributed by Public on 03/14/2023 06:22
Published 14 March 2023
The Insurance (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 ("2022 Act") was implemented into Irish law in July earlier this year. Certain sections of the 2022 Act were introduced immediately and others at a later period.
The purpose of the Act is 'tidying-up' legislation to address certain insurance-related issues arising out of the Action Plan for Insurance Reform that was published by the Programme for Government in 2020. Some of the issues addressed by the Act include price walking (charging a higher premium to renewing customers than new customers), as discussed in the previous article, and disclosures related to claims. The Act introduces a number of changes to the Consumer Insurance Contract Act 2019 ("CICA"). Please see
our previous article the introduction of CICA here.
The key changes introduced by the 2022 Act are as follows:
• CICA requires an insurer or consumer who becomes aware of information "that would either support or prejudice the validity of the claim made by the consumer" to disclose that information to the consumer/insurer - including information that would otherwise be subject to legal privilege. The 2022 Act
expands the definition of information in this context to also mean 'non-factual information' through the insertion of S16A to CICA.
• The amendment by the 2022 Act states that even if an expert report is prepared for the purposes of actual or contemplated civil proceedings, a claim of litigation privilege may not be maintained for the purposes of CICA. However, the 2022 Act helpfully clarifies that the concept of legal privilege is maintained and the duty of mutual disclosure does not apply to reports prepared by a lawyer/any communication between a lawyer and 'another person'.
• The rationale behind the introduction of this change is to encourage quicker claim settlements without involving lawyers - but in practice, it may lead to the opposite occurring owing to the fact that lawyers are better placed to procure reports and will be protected from mutual disclosure by legal privilege.
• Section 16A came into operation on 1 October 2022.
The Act has been helpful in clarifying issues arising out of previous legislation, and in particular CICA and the clarification on legal privilege in the context of mutual disclosure, which is to be welcomed by insurers. The Act has also increased the role of CBI in oversight on the insurance industry, which is welcomed from a regulatory perspective, but as insurers are no doubt aware, will increase the engagement required by Insurers with the CBI.