Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019 Commenced

The majority of the provisions of the Consumer Insurance Contracts Act 2019 (the "Act") have been commenced, effective 1 September 2020.

Introduction

The Act, which was detailed at Bill stage in our previous article here, introduces a range of provisions which seek to further balance the contractual relationship between consumers and insurers in Ireland. In this regard, the Act has many similarities to the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 in the United Kingdom, although the scope of the Irish Act is broader.

As outlined in our previous article, the definition of 'consumer' in the Act follows the definition in the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman Act 2017, which includes individuals and small businesses with a turnover of less than ?3 million, provided such persons shall not be a member of a group having a combined turnover greater than ?3 million. As such, the Act will have widespread application in the Irish