To all Members,
Members are referred to the Circular dated 17th November 2015 concerning the International Group’s position on the Insurance Act 2015 (‘the Act’). Members will recall that, whilst being drafted, it was recognised that the Act might not be required in sophisticated markets with the marine insurance sector named as one such market. Therefore, in the interests of consistency across the International Group, we have amended our Rules with effect from 20th February 2016 to reflect our decision to contract out of certain parts of the Act. The other seven affected Clubs whose Rules are subject to English law have taken the same approach.
This is to advise those Members who are currently insured or intend to insure under one of the Club's non-pooled plain language liability insurance policies (i.e. Yacht, Dive Boat, Small Passenger & Fishing), that we will not contract out of the Act’s provisions. As such, for our plain language liability insurance policies, the Act will apply in full for contracts entered into from 12th August 2016.
Whilst Insurers may contract out of parts of the Act when dealing with ‘non-consumers’, it is not possible to contract out of all such parts of the Act when it comes to Consumer contracts.
Most of our yachts owning Members have now adopted the Club’s Plain Language Yacht policy and many of these Members potentially qualify as ‘consumers’ under the Act. Therefore to avoid any uncertainty, we have decided to apply the Act in full. For reasons of consistency, we have also determined to apply the Act in full to all Plain Language policies.