On Insurance Explanation Obligation And Its Perfecting In China

Insurer’s duty of disclosure is an important system. It refers to the insurer havethe duty to provide the policyholder with a clear and appropriate statements of thecontract contents at the signing of the contract. Insurance contracts are typicallyasymmetric agreements. Insurers and insurance consumers are uneven on the aspectof information, bargaining power and insurance transaction costs for the reason ofhighly specialization. In order to ensure the real idea of the insurance consumers, it isobliged to pose the explanation duty in the insurance contracts so as to protect thereasonable expectation for the insurance profits of the consumers. Insurer’s duty ofdisclosure is statutory and accompanying with information disclosure in nature. Onthe basis of an analysis of Doctrine of Reasonable expectation in United States andthe insurer’s duty of Japan and German, in combined with the contents and theexisting problems of the insurer’s duty system in China, it makes an improvement tothe insurer’s duty of disclosure from the following aspects: First, by setting theimportant items, negative rules and exception, the structure further defines thecategory of the insurer’s duty of disclosure. Secondly, adhere to and regulate themanner and standard of insurer’s duty of disclosure by the defining the manners andstandards of the contracts terms; lastly, it aims to promote the effective protection tothe consumers by the supplementary explanation of the duty and obligation, thespecific treatment to the insurer’s duty of disclosure, and the failure of fulfill the dutyfrom the diversified angle.