Insurance Contracts CP - Law Reform Commission

2005 Final Report and Recommendations, Competition Issues in the Non-Life Insurance Market. After
investigating motor insurance, employer‘s liability insurance and public liability insurance, the Competition
Authority made a number of recommendations aimed at improving competitiveness within each sector.
Some recommendations involved providing proposers and insureds with contractual rights to a statement
on claims history, timely and detailed renewal notices so as to facilitate switching to competitors; other
recommendations such as a requirement that intermediary fees should be disclosed to insureds have
been subsequently diluted so as to avoid ―consumer information overload.‖ The Competition Authority, in
its 2009 Annual Report, noted that the Financial Regulator requires such disclosure of intermediary fees if
the consumer makes a request for such information. The Competition Authority clearly has an important
role to play in improving the rights of Irish consumers by promoting competition and making
recommendations to the Financial Regulator. Other State agencies are also expected to respond to the
views expressed by the Competition Authority. 3
(3) Regulatory Overlaps - Equality Legislation
1.05 The provisions of the the Employment Equality Acts 1998 and 2004 and the Equal Status Acts
2000 and 2004 clearly have an impact upon the Insurance Industry. Both pieces of legislation prohibit
discrimination based upon
gender
marital status
family status
sexual orientation
religion
age
disability
race
membership of the traveller community status.
1.06 While most of the complaints made to the Equality Authority relate to discrimination in the
provision of public sector services, and in particular discrimination based on race, gender and traveller
status, there are pertinent examples involving insurance.
1.07 For example, Brother Anthony White 4 was able to use the services of the Equality Authority to
challenge a practice of loading a surcharge onto the cost of hiring a motor vehicle because the driver was
aged over 70, no account being taken of the individual circumstance of the driver. The service provider
agreed to withdraw this automatic loading. The then chief executive of the Authority was quoted on the
Authority‘s website as remarking:
―the use of lower and upper age limits to govern access to insurance products and financial and
other services is a widespread problem. Age limits exclude people without any consideration of
their individual circumstances‖
1.08 There are decisions of Equality Officers that also address disability issues. In Mr A v A Life
Assurance Company 5 the Equality Officer found that a refusal to top up an income protection policy for an
insured with diabetes was a prima facie case of disability discrimination. The insurer however was able to
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For example, the 2007 Report on Private Health Insurance contained recommendations that the Competition
Authority said had been either fully implemented or written into draft legislation: 2009 Annual Report, p.48.
www.equalitytribunal.ie. See also, ―Pensioners in Search of Travel Insurance,‖ The Irish Times, 2 May 2011.
Equality Decision DEC-S2011.008 (18 February 2011). See also, O‟Donoghue v Hibernian General Insurance
(2004) and Ross v Royal Sun Alliance (2003) cited in Mr A v A Life Assurance Company. See generally
Smith, Disability Discrimination Law (Thomson Reuters, 2010).
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