IVASS (the Italian Insurance Supervisory Authority) and AGCM (the Italian Competition Authority) have carried out a coordinated action in relation to certain clauses found in the policies that cover permanent invalidity deriving from accidents or sickness.

These are clauses that do not allow the insured’s heirs to be entitled of benefits in case their relative dies for a cause other than the one that determined the disability, before the company has carried out its medical assessments on the permanent consequences of the disability.

On the one hand, by means of these clauses, the company assigns itself discretionary, usually quite long (up to 18 months), deadlines to carry out medical assessments and, on the other hand, establishes that the compensation is not transferable to the heirs if the insured person dies before the company has had time to carry out these assessments. Furthermore these clauses do not allow the heirs to demonstrate other ways that their relative’s disability had been established in the meantime, for example through certificates released by ASL or other health authorities.

As stated by the Court of Cassation, the clause on the non-transferability to heirs of the right of compensation “alters the normal contractual equilibrium to the insurer’s advantage, even only in the perspective of the mere convenience of avoiding the immediate provision of the service, confidently expecting that the event that causes the extinction of its legal obligation can occur ”.

AGCM has initiated pre-trial proceedings against the insurance companies Generali Italia S.P.A., Zurich Insurance Company Ltd (General Representation for Italy) and Allianz S.P.A. in order to verify the unfair nature of these clauses .

Meanwhile the IVASS has taken action towards all the insurance companies, with a letter to the market reiterating the necessity to verify whether the sickness and accident policies contain clauses of the type described above , and if so, to modify them within 120 days. For contracts already in force, the companies must adopt liquidation policies that allow heirs to obtain the right of compensation.

Rome, 28 February 2018