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Distribution of Insurance-Based Investment Products

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Abstract

The article draws attention to the fact that the civil entrance into force of the IRA has resulted, on a larger scale than has been the case to date, in the need to analyse in practice the essence of an insurance contract in the framework of public law regulations, which is especially connected with the issue of unit-linked life insurance contract, as the most popular example of an investment based insurance product in Poland. This question is particularly important due to the fact that the IRA includes basic legal definitions, characteristic for this insurance product. The article also presents an example of activities performed by an agent within the scope of the unit-linked life insurance contracts and attention is drawn to the issue of liability of an insurance company thereunder, and, consequently, the rules of law concerning the distribution of investment-based insurance products are evaluated. In this context, the status of the IDD implementation in Poland is also referred to at the end hereof. On that occasion, the conclusion is in favour of the acceptability in the light of Polish law of performing the so-called additional activities by an agent if they are aimed (in the interest of the insurance company) at the improvement of the scope of insurance protection granted to the insured.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Journal of Laws of 1964 No. 16 item 93 as amended.

  2. 2.

    I.e. Insurance and Reinsurance Act of 11 September 2015, Journal of Laws of 2015, item 1844 as amended.

  3. 3.

    I.e. Insurance Mediation Act of 22 May 2003, i.e. Journal of Laws of 2016, item 2077.

  4. 4.

    Cf. Fuchs (2006), p. 526 et al.; Fuchs (2004), p. 443 et al.

  5. 5.

    D. Fuchs, Insurance Restatement jako przykład jednolitego prawa wspólnotowego o umowie ubezpieczenia, Studia Ubezpieczeniowe No. 127 of 2009, p. 307 et al. and idem: Fuchs (2009), p. 125 et al.

  6. 6.

    Cf. the inapplicable Insurance Activities Act of 22 May 2003, Journal of Laws of 2003 No. 124 item 1154 as amended.

  7. 7.

    Details: D. Fuchs, Ochrona ubezpieczeniowa jako świadczenie główne ubezpieczyciela, Prawo Asekuracyjne No. 2 of 2006, p. 40 et al.

  8. 8.

    “Life insurance, if it is related to the unit-linked insurance, and life insurance where the service of the insurance company is determined based on specific indexes or other reference values”.

  9. 9.

    Official Journal of 1973, L 228 p. 3, Cf. Malinowska (2005), pp. 34–35; Maśniak (2004), p. 324; Fuchs (1998), p. 287 et al.; Fuchs (2006), p. 532.

  10. 10.

    Cf. Wieczorek (2010), p. 1101.

  11. 11.

    Court decision form 12 08 2016 (signature.: VI Ca 88/16), vide: www.rf.gov.pl.

  12. 12.

    Vide: “Rzeczpospolita”(Nr z 18.12.20115 r.).

  13. 13.

    Court decision on 23 03 2015, (signature: III C 1453/13), vide: finanse.uokik.gov.pl/ufk/; this court decision was non-final one.

  14. 14.

    Interesting reconsideration of this opinion is included in the study by M. Orlicki: Roszczenie o zapłacenie składki za czas, w którym nie była świadczona ochrona ubezpieczeniowa, Prawo Asekuracyjne No. 1 of 2006 p. 42.

  15. 15.

    III CKN 76/97, LEX No. 50796.

  16. 16.

    V CKN 199/00, LEX No. 52419.

  17. 17.

    Details: Fuchs (2003), p. 43 et al.

  18. 18.

    Cf. the still valid considerations of Wąsiewicz (2002), pp. 46–47. In the domestic literature, W. Czachórski is definitely in favour of the random nature of the insurance contract: Czachórski (2003), pp. 513–514; B. Rozmus, G. Kuczyński, Kilka mitów z zakresu teorii umów, Gdańskie Studia Prawnicze, Volume VII, pp. 316–317 emphasise the absence of equivalence of benefits of the parties to the insurance contract.

  19. 19.

    Details: Fuchs (2005), pp. 920–925.

  20. 20.

    More: D. Fuchs, Nowelizacja kodeksu cywilnego w zakresie wybranych przepisów ogólnych o umowie ubezpieczenia w świetle prac Project Group on a Restatement of European Insurance Contract Law, Wiadomości Ubezpieczeniowe, No. 7/8 z 2007, p. 32 et seq.

  21. 21.

    Cf. Ogiegło (2001), pp. 413–414.

  22. 22.

    Żuławska (1999), p. 125.

  23. 23.

    Popiołek (2002), p. 797 and the literature quoted therein.

  24. 24.

    Cf. the catalogue of decisions: Patulski (2000), pp. 306–307.

  25. 25.

    Act on Prevention of Unfair Market Practices of 23 August 2007, Journal of Laws of 2007 No. 171 item 1206 as amended.

  26. 26.

    Consumer Rights Act of 30 May 2014, as amended Journal of Laws 2014 item 827, and other residual provisions of the Act of 2 March 2000 on the protection of consumer rights and liability for damage caused by dangerous products, Journal of Laws of 2000 No. 22 item 271 as amended.

  27. 27.

    Insurance Distribution Act from 1512 2017, Journal of Laws. Z 2017 item. 2486 as amended.

  28. 28.

    Scil: insurance agent—an entrepreneur other than an agent offering supplementary insurance (compare Art. 3(1)(2) of the IDD, definition is analogical to IDD) who carries out agency activities under an agency agreement made with an insurance company and entered in the register of agents (Art. 3(1)(1) of the IDA); cf. J. Nowak in: P. Czublun, Ustawa o dystrybucji ubezpieczeń. Komentarz, Warszawa 2018, s. 20 I nn.

  29. 29.

    Details on the public good under the rule of secondary law on business insurance: Fuchs (1998), s. 299-301 a przede wszystkim: Fuchs (2002).

  30. 30.

    Art. 355. §2: The due care of a debtor in his business activity is specified with consideration taken of the professional nature of this business.

  31. 31.

    Art. 429. Anyone who entrusts an act to another person is liable for any damage caused by the perpetrator when performing the act unless he was not at fault when choosing that person or he entrusted the act to a person, enterprise or establishment which performs such acts within the scope of its professional activity.

  32. 32.

    Comparison of the IDD and the Polish law de lege lata: Szaraniec (2017), p. 141 et al.

  33. 33.

    Cf.: Fras (2015).

  34. 34.

    Composed of: M. Romanowski and D. Fuchs, draft text: www.ms/kkpc.

  35. 35.

    The author hereof is a member of the Academic Draft of the Civil Code: www.projektkc.uj.edu.pl.

Abbreviations

CC:

Polish Civil Code

IDD:

Directive on Insurance Distribution

IRA:

Insurance and Reinsurance Act

MA:

Insurance Mediation Act

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil Law and International Private Law, Faculty of Law and Administration of the Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University, Warszawa, Poland

    Dariusz Fuchs

  2. Law Firm, Katowice, Poland

    Dariusz Fuchs

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  1. Dariusz Fuchs
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Correspondence to Dariusz Fuchs .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Law Department, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Milano, Italy

    Pierpaolo Marano

  2. Department of Business Administration, (em.) Athens University of Economics and Business, Athens, Attiki, Greece

    Ioannis Rokas

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Fuchs, D. (2019). Poland. In: Marano, P., Rokas, I. (eds) Distribution of Insurance-Based Investment Products. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11668-2_8

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