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1^er AVRIL 2007. - Terrorism Damage Insurance Act (1)

ALBERT II, King of the Belgians,
To all, present and to come, Hi.
The Chambers adopted and We sanction the following:
CHAPTER I^er. - General provision
Article 1^er. This Act regulates a matter referred to in Article 78 of the Constitution.
CHAPTER II. - Scope of application
Art. 2. This Act applies to all Belgian risks as defined in Article 2, § 6, 8°, of the Act of 9 July 1975 on the control of insurance companies, to the extent that the insurance contract covers the repair of damage caused by terrorism. By terrorism, "an action or a threat of action organized in clandestinity for ideological, political, ethnic or religious purposes, carried out individually or in a group and affecting persons or partially or completely destroying the economic value of a material or intangible property, or in order to impress the public, create a climate of insecurity or to exert pressure on the authorities, either in order to prevent the normal functioning and operation of a company
By derogation from the preceding paragraph, this Act is not applicable to insurance contracts covering exclusively the damage caused by terrorism, or to insurance contracts covering liability pursuant to the Act of July 22, 1985 on civil liability in the field of nuclear energy, to insurance contracts covering damage to a nuclear facility as defined in the Act of July 22, 1985 on civil liability in the field of nuclear energy, or to contracts of insurance for damage to a nuclear facility
This Act is not applicable to the theoretical value of life insurance.
CHAPTER III - Solidarity Regime
Section I^re. - Cooperation between the Belgian State and legal persons of private law
Art. 3. § 1^er. The legal person referred to in Article 4 and the Belgian State shall jointly cover the events of a calendar year, up to one billion euros for the commitments made by the participants referred to in Article 4. The above amount is adapted, the 1^er January of each year, at the evolution of the UK Consumer Price Index, the base index being December 2005. The King may amend the basic amount by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers.
§ 2. The portion of the above-mentioned amount that the Belgian State takes over is determined annually in agreement with the legal person referred to in Article 4. ÷ lack of agreement, the King may, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, determine the part of the amount that lies with the Belgian State.
§ 3. The Belgian State is only required to intervene when the share of the legal entity referred to in Article 4 is exhausted.
Section II. - Collaboration between legal persons other than the authorities
Art. 4. § 1^er. Insurers, reinsurers, other legal persons established in Belgium and legal persons who carry out activities in Belgium under the free provision of services may constitute a legal entity they finance. The purpose of this legal entity is to distribute among all participants, in accordance with the provisions of this Act, the commitments that these participants must carry out in the event of terrorism.
§ 2. If the above-mentioned legal person is not incorporated within twelve months of the entry into force of this section or if that legal person is to be removed, the King may, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, establish a legal person and determine how the participants referred to in this section participate in the financing of that legal person.
§ 3. The statutes of the legal person referred to in this article shall include at least provisions concerning the conditions and modalities for the admission, resignation and exclusion of the participants, the scope of the commitments of the participants, the organization and management of the legal person, the procedures for the appointment, the powers and the duration of the mandate of the persons in charge of the management, the procedures for the determination and payment of the contributions of the participants, the procedure for the establishment and approval of the accounts
§ 4. The statutes, rules of procedure and amendments made to them are, after consultation with the Banking, Financial and Insurance Commission, approved by the King.
The statutes, rules of procedure and amendments made to them must be published in the Annexes of the Belgian Monitor.
§ 5. The King shall appoint two representatives to the legal person referred to in § 1^er. One of these representatives is appointed on the Minister's proposal that has the economy in his or her powers; the other representative shall be appointed on the proposal of the Minister who has the budget in his or her powers. These representatives shall ensure compliance with this Act.
They communicate their objections to Ministers and to the Banking, Financial and Insurance Commission. The Banking, Financial and Insurance Commission shall communicate the objections received to the competent foreign supervisory authorities for insurance and reinsurance companies that carry out their activities by branch or free service in Belgium.
CHAPTER IV. - Settlement of disaster in the event of terrorism
Section I^re. - The Committee
Art. 5. § 1^er. It is constituted a Committee, which consists of a representative of the Minister who has the economy in his or her powers, a representative of the Minister who has the budget in his or her powers, a representative of the Minister who has the job in his or her powers, a representative of the Minister who has the public service in his or her powers, a representative of the Coordinating Body for the Analysis of the Threat, established by section 5 of the Act referred to in this report. The Banking, Financial and Insurance Commission shall designate a representative with an advisory vote. Members are appointed by the King for a renewable period of six years. The committee is chaired by the Chairman of the Insurance Commission, established by section 41 of the Act of 9 July 1975 on the control of insurance companies.
§ 2. The Committee drafts a rules of procedure that is approved by the King. ÷ Committee decision failure, the King sets the rules of procedure
§ 3. The Banking, Financial and Insurance Commission is responsible for the operating costs of the Committee. The Committee shall meet at the seat of the Commission.
Section II. - Competences of the Committee
Art. 6. § 1^er. The Committee shall determine, no later than six months after the event, whether this event meets the definition given in Article 2. During the above-mentioned period, the Committee meets each month, until it has decided on whether or not an event meets the definition of Article 2. The Committee may decide on an initiative, at the request of the Council of Ministers or at the request of a participant in the legal person referred to in section 4.
The King may fix the events about which the Committee is not required to meet.
The Committee ' s decision is published in the Belgian Monitor.
§ 2. The Panel determines, no later than six months after the event, the percentage of compensation that participants must pay as a result of the event.
The Committee meets at least every six months to decide on a possible revision of the percentage.
The Panel shall make, no later than 31 December of the third year following the year of occurrence, a final determination as to the percentage of compensation payable.
§ 3. To the extent that the King has not used the powers conferred upon him under Article 9, such powers shall return to the Committee if the Committee shall rule in respect of an event.
Section III. - Provisions on the height of commitments to be implemented by participants
Art. 7. § 1^er. The participants referred to in Article 4 shall carry out their contractual obligations up to the percentage established under Article 6, § 2. If the Panel changes the percentage, the new percentage is applied for all claims resulting from the event. The reduction of the compensation resulting from the new percentage will not be applicable to compensation already paid or to compensation remaining payable for which the participant has already communicated his or her decision to the person who can claim to perform an undertaking in the event of terrorism. The increase in the percentage results in an increase in the compensation paid for all claims reported to members of the legal person referred to in section 4 resulting from the event.
The King determines the extent to which the percentage set by the Committee is not applied to compensation paid under the Act of 21 November 1989 on compulsory liability insurance for self-propelled vehicles.
§ 2. Where the Panel finds that the amount referred to in section 3 is not sufficient to compensate for all damages incurred or where the Panel does not have sufficient evidence to determine whether the amount referred to in section 3 is sufficient, the damage to persons is compensated as a priority. Compensation for moral damages comes after all other compensations.
Art. 8. § 1^er. The performance of the commitments of the participants as a result of one or more events recognized as relevant to terrorism is limited, by calendar year, to the amount referred to in Article 3, regardless of the insured amount referred to in the contract and regardless of the amounts to be insured under the applicable legislation.
§ 2. For insurance contracts that concern damage to real property and/or its content and for insurance contracts that relate to damages caused to real property and/or its content, compensation is, without prejudice to Article 7, § 1^erand § 1^er, limited to 75 million euros maximum per insurance taker, per insured site and per year, regardless of the number of insurance contracts and the number of participants who are required to carry out an undertaking in the event of terrorism.
For the purposes of this paragraph, all objects insured by the insurance licensee that are at the address of the risk and all objects insured by the insurance licensee that are not at the address of the risk are an integral part of the insured site if and to the extent that these objects, by their nature and construction, are part of the activity carried out at the address of the risk. All objects insured by the insurance licensee located at a distance of less than 50 metres from each other and of which at least one copy is at the risk address, are deemed to be on the same site.
Subsidiaries and parent companies, as defined in the Act of 7 May 1999 containing the Code of Companies, are considered to be a single insurer. This principle is also applicable to consortiums and related companies.
This subsection does not apply to housing buildings and other risks to be determined by the King.
§ 3. If the total of the calculated or estimated benefits exceeds the amount referred to in section 3, the allowances payable are limited to the ratio between the amount referred to in section 3 or the means still available and the total of the compensation payable to the calendar year.
§ 4. The King may, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, provide that the damage less than a specified amount shall be borne by the person who may claim to carry out an undertaking in the event of terrorism and that such damage shall not be deducted from the amount referred to in Article 3.
Section IV. - Ability to determine the criteria related to the concept of event
Art. 9. The King may, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, set criteria for determining whether several events should be considered to be a single event. It has this power for events that occur within a specified period of time. It can define the criteria on which events are attributed to a particular calendar year.
CHAPTER V. - Insurance contracts
Section I^re. - Insurance contracts entered into after the coming into force of this Act
Art. 10. § 1^er. The insurance contract may exclude, in explicit and precise terms, the damage caused by terrorism.
§ 2. By derogation from § 1^er, the insurance contract obligatoryly guarantees the damage caused by terrorism for the risks and conditions that the King sets by deliberate order in the Council of Ministers.
The following risks must necessarily include coverage of the damage caused by terrorism as defined in Article 2:
1° the occupational hazards;
2° the risks regulated by the Act of 21 November 1989 relating to compulsory liability insurance for self-propelled vehicles;
3° the risks regulated by the Act of 30 July 1979 concerning the prevention of fires and explosions and the compulsory insurance of civil liability under these same circumstances;
4° the simple fire-risk risks that the King defines in accordance with section 67 of the Act of 25 June 1992 on the land insurance contract;
5° the risks to branches 1, 2, 21, 22 and 23 as defined in Schedule I to the Royal Decree of 22 February 1991 concerning the general regulation of the control of insurance companies.
Damage caused by weapons or equipment destined to explode by a modification of structure of the atomic nucleus may be excluded in the insurance contract.
In the absence of an amount to be legally or regulatoryly insured, the insurance contract which, under this section, must include the coverage of terrorism provides an identical insured amount, that the damage results from terrorism or any other cause. The King may have that other rules be applied for certain risks or insurance contracts.
Section II. - Insurance contracts in progress at the time this Act comes into force
Art. 11. The contracts referred to in Article 10, § 2, which, at the time of the coming into force of this Act, exclude the damage caused by terrorism, cover these damages from the next annual expiry of the premium. Damage caused by weapons or equipment destined to explode by an alteration in the structure of the atomic nucleus may remain excluded from this coverage.
The insurance taker may request the insurer to grant the warranty from a previous date.
Section III. - Change of insurance conditions following the amendment of the law
Art. 12. If the limit set out in section 3 is repealed, the insurer shall have a period of one year, from the date of the repeal, to terminate all or part of the terrorism guarantee. Termination takes effect one month after the notice of termination is sent or one month after the receipt of the notice of termination is signed.
CHAPTER VI. - Timely limitation and allocation of compensation for damage caused by terrorism
Art. 13. By derogation from Article 2, this chapter is applicable to all Belgian risks as defined in Article 2, § 6, 8°, of the Act of 9 July 1975 on the control of insurance companies, to the extent that these risks are insured by Belgian insurance companies, or by insurance companies whose head office is located outside the European Economic Area and whose activities in Belgium are subject to the supervision of the European Economic Commission.
Art. 14. On the proposal of the Minister who has the Economy in his or her powers in accordance with the advice of the Financial Stability Committee referred to in Article 117, § 3, of the Act of 2 August 2002 on the supervision of the financial sector and financial services, the King may, by order deliberately in the Council of Ministers, limit the commitments that participants must carry out in the event of terrorism. The King may limit these commitments to a specified amount or to a specified percentage of the undertaking. It may also exclude from compensation the commitments below an amount to be fixed by Him. It may also provide that the performance of the commitments will be spread over time.
Art. 15. As soon as the Minister has, pursuant to section 14, sought the advice of the Financial Stability Committee, the King may, for a maximum of four months, limit and allocate in time the performance of the commitments made by the participants.
CHAPTER VII. - Limitation of the right of subrogation
Art. 16. The right of subrogation granted to the insurer under section 136, § 2, of the coordinated law of 14 July 1994 relating to compulsory health care and compensation, the right of subrogation granted to the legal persons and institutions referred to in section 14, § 3, of the law of 3 July 1967 on compensation for damages resulting from accidents of work, accidents occurring on the way of work and occupational diseases in the
These rights may be exercised as early as the third month after the end of the calendar year in which the event occurred.
CHAPTER VIII. - Subrogation of public authorities
Art. 17. The State, the Communities and the Regions which, for reasons of solidarity, have compensated the injured person in whole or in part before the insurer has made the voluntary or compelled payment, up to the amount of that compensation, in the rights and actions of the injured person against the insurer.
If, by the aggrieved person, subrogation can no longer produce its effects in favour of the State, the Communities or the Regions, they may claim to the injured person the restitution of the compensation paid to the extent of the harm suffered.
Subrogation can only harm the injured person who was compensated in part. In this case, it may exercise its rights, for what remains due, preferably to the State, the Communities and the Regions.
CHAPTER IX. - Miscellaneous provisions
Art. 18. The King takes the decrees carrying out the articles, 3, § 1^er§ 2, § 1^erparagraphs 2, 8, § 2, 4, 8, § 4, 9 and 10, § 2, paragraphs 1^er and 4, after advice from the Insurance Commission and the Banking, Financial and Insurance Commission. The Minister who to the Economy in his or her powers sets the deadlines in which the notices referred to above must be rendered. In case of non-compliance with any of these deadlines, the notice is no longer required.
Art. 19. The amount fixed in Article 3, § 1^erthe percentage set by the Committee referred to in Article 6, § 2, and Article 7, § 1^er, as well as the restrictions set out in section 8, are not enforceable to injured persons and their beneficiaries for compensation paid under the Industrial Accidents Act of 10 April 1971.
The limitation of compensation and the allocation of compensation in time under sections 14 and 15 are not enforceable to injured persons and their beneficiaries for compensation under the Industrial Accidents Act of 10 April 1971.
Art. 20. Section IV, as follows, is included in Chapter III of the Law of 1^er August 1985:
"Section IV. - State assistance to victims of terrorism.
Art. 42 bis. - The King may extend compensation to victims of terrorism as defined in Article 2 of the Law of 1^er April 2007 on insurance against damage caused by terrorism and adapting, taking into account the characteristics of terrorism, the obligations of persons entitled to compensation referred to in sections I^re and II above.
Without prejudice to the contributions referred to in section 29, the Fund for Assistance to Victims of Intentional Acts of Violence and Occasional Saviors may, for the purposes of this section, be fed by advances from the Treasury, by loans, gifts and bequests, by a portion of the profits of the National Lottery as well as by other incomes that the King determines. »
Art. 21. In the Labour Accidents Act of 10 April 1971, section 7, paragraph 2, is supplemented by the following sentence:
"The accident caused by terrorism, as defined in the law of 1^er April 2007 on insurance against damage caused by terrorism, and occurred during the performance of the employment contract, is considered to have occurred by the performance of the employment contract. "
Art. 22. In the same Act, an article 84bis is inserted:
"Art. 84bis. - Insurance companies may, in respect of the allowances they are required to pay under this Act but which, under the Act of 1^er April 2007 on insurance against damage caused by terrorism, are not completely or immediately at their expense, appeal to the Belgian State's Dependant Labour Accidents Fund. The Belgian State imputes this to the first head of the amount referred to in Article 3, § 2, of the above-mentioned Law of 1^er April 2007, taking into account the percentage established in accordance with Articles 6, § 2, 7 and 8 of the aforementioned Act.
The portion of the allowances that, on the basis of the above-mentioned Act of 1^er April 2007, is not dependent on insurance companies, but they have paid to the beneficiaries, under Article 19, paragraph 1 of the above-mentioned law, can be recovered from the aforementioned Belgian State Fund.
The Fund must advance the allowances that, on the basis of the above-mentioned Act of 1^er April 2007, must not be paid immediately by insurance companies, but are required to pay to eligible persons under section 19, paragraph 2, of the aforementioned Act.
The King may specify the conditions and rules of the intervention of this Fund. "
CHAPTER X. - Entry into force
Art. 23. The King shall determine the dates of entry into force of this Act as soon as the legal person referred to in section 4 has been incorporated, its statutes have been approved, its rules of procedure have been established, the representatives of the ministers have been designated and the execution of section 3, § 2. This Act comes into force on the first day of the twelfth month following its publication to the Belgian Monitor.
Derogation from paragraph 1^erArticles 3, § 2 and § 3, 4, 5, 9, 18, 20 and 24 come into force on the day of publication of this Law.
CHAPTER XI. - Transitional provision
Art. 24. In the absence of a decree carrying out Article 3, § 2, the share of the Belgian State is set at 300 million euros.
Promulgation of this law, let us order that it be clothed with the seal of the State and published by the Belgian Monitor.
Given in Brussels, 1^er April 2007.
ALBERT
By the King:
Minister of Economy,
Mr. VERWILGHEN
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. L. ONKELINX
Seal of the state seal:
The Minister of Justice,
Ms. L. ONKELINX
____
Note
(1) 2006-2007 session.
House of Representatives:
Documents. - 51-2848 - Number 1: Bill. - No. 2: Amendments. - Number three: Report. - No. 4: Text adopted by the commission. - No. 5: Text adopted in plenary and transmitted to the Senate.
Full report. - 15 February 2007.
See also:
House of Representatives:
Documents. - 51-2849 - Number 1: Bill. - Number two: Report. - No. 3: Text adopted in plenary and transmitted to the Senate.
Senate:
3-2069 - Number 1: Project not referred to by the Senate.