The Optional Application of the Principles of European Insurance Contract Law

Abstract

the work conducted by the Project Group on a restatement of european insurance contract Law since 1999 is by no means the first attempt to harmonise insurance contract law in europe. the european commission had initially proposed the harmonisation of substantive insurance contract law in 1979 as part of its internal market programme. However, discussions on this item turned out to be very difficult because of the large divergences that existed between the laws of the Member States in those years. While some jurisdictions such as the United Kingdom and the Netherlands would not interfere with the freedom of contract in insurance matters, others like France and Germany had enacted a heavy load of mandatory provisions for the protection of policy holders. A compromise between these two schools of thought appeared to be impossible when the european community ran out of time in the second half of the 1980s as the 1992 deadline for the implementation of the internal market approached. Moreover, contract law was not the only impediment to the implementation of the single insurance market. Other issues related to the admission of insurance companies to the market, their supervision, their investment policies etc. were held to be more important and to deserve closer attention. Therefore, the Community institutions finally agreed not to pursue the idea of an approximation of substantive contract law and to enact common conflict rules instead. 10.1007/s12027-008-0069-0