Overview

With more money spent per head on insurance premiums in Switzerland than any other country, the first overhaul of Switzerland's Insurance Contract Act in 100 years is causing much discussion.

Although the revision of the ICA is predominantly a Swiss domestic issue, the impact of the revision may well reach far beyond Switzerland's borders. More than a third of the 151 insurance carriers currently licensed to conduct direct insurance business in Switzerland are branch offices of foreign insurers operating in or from Switzerland.

Writing exclusively for Legal Week, Prager Dreifuss' Christian Lang and Zsuzsanna Kunszt outlines what the proposed legislation will mean for:

• industrial risks vs. consumer risks;


• pre-contractual information and disclosure;


• admissibility of conditions precedent;


• right of direct action of the damaged party against the tortfeasor's insurance;


• disclosure of brokerage fees; and


• backwards insurance/statute of limitations.

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