The Insurance Council of New Zealand (ICNZ) welcomes moves announced today by Minister of Commerce and Consumer Affairs Kris Faafoi to reform insurance contract law.

Tim Grafton, Chief Executive ICNZ, says the current legislation is outdated and needs to be consolidated into a single piece of law.

“This is a highly technical area and we support the Minister’s decision to consult on a draft piece of legislation, a process that we will engage in constructively.

“Consultation will allow us to ensure the strengthened consumer protections in insurance contracts provide clarity and certainty for all parties, he said”

For the past four years ICNZ’s Fair Insurance Code has required its members to respond proportionately when consumers don’t disclose something they should have, a process ICNZ supports applying to the whole sector.

“Also under our Code, we require our members to set out their insurance policies in plain English which the whole sector should be striving to do. Furthermore, putting the onus on insurers to ask the right questions of consumers to underwrite a risk reflects the fact they have the ability to ask the right questions.

Mr Grafton concluded that ICNZ supports the Minister taking a balanced and careful approach to reform to what is a complicated and technical area.