After two years of work, the Financial Market Development Council created an amendment to the Act on Mandatory Insurances, UFG and PBUK. During the inter-resort negotiations which were held without social organizations a new project was developed which partly differs from the version recently agreed (with the participation of PIU).

These are the most important changes defined in the recent version of the project of the Act with reference to the former one:
• art. 26 sec. 1 of the Act on insurance activity – the possibility to use mechanically reconstructed signature in case of concluding an insurance agreement remotely within the Act on the protection of some of the consumers’ rights (…)
i.e. direct
• in the art. 18 of the Act on mandatory insurance – the sec. 1 is removed, i.e. statements and notices related to the insurance contract may be made in any legal form. The general principle from art. 61 c, will be binding in this case. Exception: the statement on the termination of the agreement for which the written form will be required. Moreover, a new section 3 will be introduced – the clause of postal stamp, i.e. termination will be recognized after it has been registered by post, not on the day when it has been received by the insurer (as it was before).

In addition, in regard to the position of the President of the Office of Consumers and Competition Protection concerning the insufficient solution of the question of so called double insurance, the Ministry of Finance offered to consider the following regulations in the project:
• the addition of the sec. 1a in the art. 28: “In case of another third party liability insurance of the owners of motor vehicles for another 12 months in form specified in the sec. 1, the insurance company will be obliged to deliver the insured a confirmation of the insurance agreement within 30 days from the day when the agreement was concluded”.

• addition of the art. 28a:

„Art. 28a. 1. In case of concluding a third party liability insurance agreement by an owner of a motor vehicle accompanied by the conclusion of another agreement for another 12 months in the form specified in art. 28, sec. 1, the owner of the motor vehicle may terminate the agreement concluded in the form specified in art. 28 sec. 1 provided that the insurance periods defined in the agreements are identical.
2. In case of termination of a third party liability insurance agreement of the owners of motor vehicles in line with the sec. 1, the insurance company may demand the payment of insurance commission for the period of liability.”
Introduction of the sec. 1 in the art. 28 would specify the need to deliver (to the insured) a document with personal signature of the insurer’s representative. Moreover, it would be hard to fulfill the obligation to deliver a document confirming the insurance agreement to the insured within 30 days from the day when the agreement was concluded.

The regulation transfers the liability (for timely delivery of the letter realized by an operator, e.g. Poczta Polska) on the insurer. The delivery of the document confirming the insurance agreement to the insured would require the insurer to incur significant costs related to the confirmation of the delivery of the letter (art. 6 cc).

Considering the above, the Association of Polish Insurance presented the following proposition to the Ministry of Finances:
• retaining the sec. 1a in the art. 28 – considering, in the bill, the possibility for an insuring company to use a mechanically reconstructed signature in a document confirming the agreement not only in case of concluding an insurance agreement without the presence of both parties, using means of remote communication. The provision requiring to deliver to the insured document confirming the insurance agreement within 30 days from the day the agreement was concluded is replaced with a provision obliging to send to the insured the document confirming the insurance agreement within 30 days from the day the agreement was concluded
or
• removal of the sec. 1a in the art. 28 and the introduction of the practice of sending (by the insurance company to the insured) of the insurance proposition for another insurance period specifying the amount of a commission. The forms of presenting this information will be defined by the Polish Insurance Association within 2 months from the day when the final bill is established.

Below we present other significant changes included in the bill:

• art. 31. Sec. 1 and 4 – resignation of the automatic conclusion of a insurance agreement for another period if the property rights of a vehicle were transferred.
• art. 26 sec. 2 and 3 – specification of the counting principles of the 12-month insurance period

• removal of the art. 42 – a general norm will be applied, i.e. 813§ 1 of the civil code

• the Act on activity, art. 16, the addition of the following content: “Notice and statements forwarded to the insurance agent with relation to the concluded insurance agreement are deemed to be forwarded to the insurance company for and on the behalf of which the agent acts”.

It should be noted that this version of the bill is not final. The bill will soon be considered on the session of the Permanent Cabinet Committee. Then it will receive the final shape.