일본의 新保險法의 제정

New Insurance Law of Japan

On February24 2008, after deliberations of more than one year, a legislative subcommittee on insurance laws under the Ministry of Justice made public uts draft in relation to revising the insurance laws. and on May30 2008, this draft was enacted in the Diet. The new insurance Law sets out some important changes to the current to the past insurance rules. For example, The new insurance Law states will apply not only to policies issued by insurance stock companies as prescribed in the current Commercial Code but also to policies of mutual insurance associations. Also, with respect to the duty to disclose material information at the time of applications, The new insurance Law states that such duty will arise when an issuer makes any inquiry to an applicant, under the past rules, disclosures must be made regardless of whether an inquiry is made by the insurer. this revision to the disclosure duty is in response to consumer criticism that the present scope of the duty is unclear, as some consumer have failed to fully disclosure material information and have later been unfairly denied coverage. Further more, The new insurance Law proposes new rules regarding termination of insurance contracts. An insurer will be able to termination an insurance contract if the policy holder self-inflicts or attempts to self-inflicts damage covered under the policy for the purpose of obtaining insurance proceeds. The new insurance Law also contains some additional changes for specific types of insurance contracts. For instance, with regard to accident insurance, it states that a victim who has sustained damages due to another is to be granted a special lien against the insured, and allowed to recover damages on a preferential basis to other creditors. Also, in connection with life insurance, The new insurance Law provides that insured person can change the beneficiaries of the insurance policy in their will or other testamentary declarations. However, such changes may not be asserted against an insurer unless notice is made to the insurer after the declaration takes effect. Furthermore, with respect to life insurance and fixed premium accident and health insurance, The new insurance Law introduces new rules for insurance contracts where the policy holder is not the person insured and where consent of the person insured is required for the policy to be effective.