The hallmark doctrine of insurance law, the duty of utmost good faith (as represented by the uberrima fides principle), has been castigated for operating in a notoriously unfair manner in favour of the insurer. Although the UK Law Commission had dutifully raised the call for reform as long ago as 1957 (because "there is general recognition that the law is overly harsh"), it was only in 2012 that the English Parliament passed the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act, which introduced major amendments for application to the consumer insurance regime (and, inter alia, scuttled the infamous voluntary disclosure rule in the process). As for the business insurance regime, the Insurance Act already received Royal Assent on 12 February 2015 and will come into effect in August 2016.
展开▼
