Following consultation with members IBANZ has submitted on the Ministry of Business, Innovation & Employment: Issues Paper, Insurance Contract Law Review. Our submission is available on the IBANZ website.
Insurance contract law is one part of the broader insurance regulatory system. Insurance contract law governs the contracts that are formed when one person pays to transfer their risk to another party. There are six pieces of insurance-specific legislation that govern the insurance contract relationship:
A number of issues have been raised with New Zealand’s insurance contract law that are potentially undermining the effectiveness of New Zealand’s insurance markets. The law has been reviewed previously but reform has stalled Issues with insurance contract law have been frequently considered over the past 20 years, but progress on law reform has stalled for various reasons. Previous work included:
Some of the issues raised by the Law Commission have been, or are being, addressed through other reform of general laws. However, a number still remain. Many of the issues raised have already been subject to reform in the United Kingdom and Australia.
The first step was the release of an issues paper for public consultation. This provided an opportunity for public comment on the objectives for insurance contract law, and on the issues that have been identified.
The proposed process for the review is as follows:
There will be engagement with stakeholders throughout, beyond the formal consultation process.
