European Commission Provides Guidelines On Gender Pricing

On 22 December 2011, the European Commission adopted guidelines (the "Guidelines") to assist the insurance industry in implementing unisex pricing, following the ban on the use of gender as a factor in assessing risk and determining the benefits applicable in an insurance policy as a result of the ruling in the Test-Achats case.

In its ruling on the Test-Achats case on 1 March 2011 (see link to our case note here), the European Court of Justice gave insurers until 21 December 2012 to treat individual male and female customers equally in terms of insurance premiums and benefits.

Following consultations with European governments and stakeholders, the Guidelines clarify a number of matters, one of which is that that the ruling applies only to 'new contracts', in particular to contracts concluded after 21 December 2012. The Guidelines do not, however, limit what constitutes a 'new contract' and the Guidelines provide examples of what is considered a 'new contract' to