The preventive value of insurance is well recognised. But recently, there has been much more at stake regarding the preventive function of insurance. There are at least three reasons to address insurance prevention:
(1) dynamic changes in the risk landscape,
(2) emerging technologies that facilitate risk prevention, and
(3) the regulatory gap in the preventive function of insurance.
Regulatory issues related to the use of new technologies in insurance have been discussed extensively, albeit selectively, and have focused on issues such as the declaration of risk by policyholders, the potential use of sensitive data for risk assessment, and the automated distribution process (robo-advice). There is a noticeable gap in research and publications on a comprehensive legal approach to the preventive function of insurance, both at the level of private law (the insurance contract, the duties of insurance distributors) and at the level of public law, such as the supervision of the application of risk prevention measures by insurers. Finding a new approach that could meet the legal challenges is of great importance for developing insurance as a tool for protection against the most pressing risks. The objectives of the project include analysing the impact of new technologies on risk prevention and the potential role of the insurer in risk prevention from a legal perspective, including the possible change of roles in the performance of the insurance contract, as well as whether prevention has the potential to become a distinct (re)insurance service and what are the limits of the insurance contract and the insurance business in terms of its compensatory and preventive functions. The project's ultimate aim is to propose legal solutions at the level of European private and public insurance law systems.
In pursuit of promoting insurance prevention, ELI SIG Insurance took the initiative to explore the potential of insurance prevention in cooperation with experts from various universities and insurance stakeholders. The Experts will base upon a questionnaire addressed to the insurance market and address four dimensions of the insurance prevention, i.e. (1) Insurance contract (does insurance contract (law) includes prevention service), (2) Insurance business and supervision, (3) Insurance consumer regulations, (4) Insurance distribution (intermediaries). The results of the study will be published in a monography.
The research project is led by Katarzyna Malinowska, Professor at Kozminski University in Warsaw in cooperation with Prof. Helmut Heiss (the University of Zurich), Anna Tarasiuk (Kozminski University) and Dr. Marta Ostrowska (the University of Zurich).
The book is expected to be published in 2026.