Insurance Law in a Changing EU Conference in Vienna (Austria)

19.01.2018

On 18 January 2018, the Insurance Law in a Changing EU conference took place at the Austrian Ministry of Constitution, Reform, Deregulation and Justice in Vienna.

The many esteemed guests from Europe and beyond were welcomed by ELI President Christiane Wendehorst and Head of Section of the Civil Law Division at the Austrian Ministry of of Constitution, Reform, Deregulation and Justice (BMVRDJ), Georg Kathrein. This Conference was co- organised by the Project Group on a Restatement of European Insurance Contract Law, the European Law Institute and the BMVRDJ. The Project Group was established by Fritz Reichert-Facilides (†) and was chaired by Helmut Heiss, Professor at the University of Zurich.

During the Conference, Helmut Heiss gave an introduction and presentation of the Principles of European Insurance Contract Law (PEICL) 2.0. The PEICL was drafted by the ‘Restatement of European Insurance Contract Law’ Project Group as a model for an optional instrument of European insurance contract law.You can find PEICL in various languages in full text here.

The rest of the Conference was divided into three parts: while part one was devoted to potential future obstacles for EU insurance law, part two focused on InsurTechs and the EU Digital Single Market and part three on European pensions. Among other speakers were Herman Cousy (Catholic University of Leuven) David Hertzell (Mactavish Group), Monica Märchler (Zurich Insurance Group), Jürgen Basedow (Max Planck Institute for Comparative and International Private Law), Fabio Maniori (Associazione Nazionale fra le Imprese Assicuratrici) and Peter Takáts (Polipis- Renomia Insurance Brokers Ltd). Jaana Norio-Timonen (University of Helsinki), Diana Cerini (Università degli Studi Milano) and Manfred Wandt (Goethe University Frankfurt) were moderators.

You can find out more about the work of the Project Group on a Restatement of European Insurance Contract Law here.