Transparency in the Insurance Contract Law of Russia

Abstract

The concept of transparency in the context of the Russian insurance contract law is relatively new. There is no formal definition of transparency or established court practice on this subject. For this book, we consider transparency in insurance contract law from two opposite angles and review two distinct duties of disclosure. The insured has a duty of disclosure of the risk and the insurer has a duty of disclosure of contractual terms. Over the years, the scope of these duties has been changing and evolving. Today, the emphasis has moved towards imposing more duties on the insurer as insurance products are becoming more and more sophisticated and the interests of the insured including consumers are getting more and more attention. The court practice has created a positive obligation upon the insurer to actively solicit information from the insured and to check it. This is just another confirmation of the general trend of extending higher standards of behaviour that are expected from the insurer in the consumer insurance to commercial and industrial insurance contracts and disputes.