Insurance Act , 1936

PART I. Preliminary and General.

1 Short title and citation.

1.—(1) This Act may be cited as the Insurance Act, 1936.

(2) The Assurance Companies Act, 1909, and this Act may be cited together as the Insurance Acts, 1909 and 1936.

2 Commencement of this Act.

2.—This Act shall come into operation on such day or days as may be fixed therefor by any order or orders of the Minister, either generally or with reference to any particular Part, and different days may be so fixed for different Parts of this Act, but no order shall be made by the Minister under this section in relation to Part VI of this Act without the consent of the Minister for Finance.

3 Definitions.

3.—In this Act—

the expression “the Minister” means the Minister for Industry and Commerce;

the word “prescribed” means (save where otherwise expressly stated) prescribed by regulations made by the Minister under this Act;

the expression “assurance business” means any of the following classes of business, that is to say:—

(a) life assurance business,

(b) industrial assurance business,

(c) fire insurance business,

(d) accident insurance business,

(e) bond investment business,

(f) employers' liability insurance business,

(g) mechanically propelled vehicle insurance business,

(h) public liability insurance business,

(i) engineering insurance business,

(j) glass insurance business,

(k) guarantee insurance business,

(l) burglary insurance business;

the expression “life assurance business” does not include any business which is industrial assurance business, but subject to that over-riding limitation the said expression means the business of effecting contracts of assurance upon human life, including the payment of money on death (except on death by accident only) and including contracts of assurance the premiums in respect of which are payable for a term dependent on human life, and also including contracts for the granting of annuities on or with reference to human life (other than superannuation allowances and annuities payable out of any funds applicable solely to the relief and maintenance of persons engaged or who have been engaged in a particular profession, trade or employment or of the dependants of such persons) and also including contracts which are attached to or dependent on contracts of assurance on human life and under which the assurer has no right of cancellation and which provide for the payment of moneys in case of fatal or other accident to or disease of the assured;

the expression “industrial assurance business” means the business of effecting assurances upon human life where the premiums in respect of such assurances are payable at intervals of less than two months and are collected by means of collectors, (including contracts which are attached to or dependent on such assurances and under which the assurer has no right of cancellation and which provide for the payment of moneys in case of fatal or other accident to or disease of the assured) but the said expression does not include the business of effecting any of the following assurances, that is to say:—

(a) assurances effected, whether before or after the passing of this Act, by an assurance company which was carrying on assurance business before the date of the passing of this Act and which at that date had no assurances outstanding the premiums on which were payable at intervals of less than one month, so long as such company continues not to effect any such assurances, and

(b) assurances effected before the date of the passing of this Act, the premiums in respect of which are payable at intervals of one month or upwards, and which have up to the commencement of the Part of this Act relating to industrial assurance business been treated as part of the business transacted by a branch other than the industrial assurance branch of the company which effects such assurances, and

(c) assurances for twenty-five pounds and upwards effected after the passing of this Act, the premiums in respect of which are payable at intervals of one month or upwards, but of less than two months, and which are treated as part of the business transacted by a branch other than the industrial assurance branch of an assurance company, in cases where the Minister certifies that the terms and conditions of such assurances are on the whole not less favourable to the assured than the terms and conditions imposed by this Act;

the expression “fire insurance business” means the business of effecting contracts of insurance against loss by or incidental to fire;

the expression “accident insurance business” means the business of effecting contracts of insurance against or otherwise in relation to personal accidents, whether fatal or not, disease or sickness, or any class of personal accidents, disease or sickness, except any contracts which are attached to or dependent on contracts of life assurance business or industrial assurance business and which confer benefits on the assured in case of fatal or other accident to or disease of the assured and under which the assurer has no right of cancellation;

the expression “bond investment business” does not include life assurance business, industrial assurance business, or sinking fund or capital redemption business, but subject to that overriding limitation the said expression means the business of issuing bonds or endowment certificates by which the company carrying on such business, in return for subscriptions payable at periodical intervals of less than six months, contracts to pay the holder of such bond or certificate a sum of money at a future date;

the expression “employers' liability insurance business” means the business of effecting with employers contracts of insurance against liability to pay compensation or damages to workmen in their employment;

the expression “mechanically propelled vehicle insurance business” means the business of effecting contracts of insurance against loss of or damage to or arising out of or in connection with the use of mechanically propelled vehicles, including third party risks;

the expression “public liability insurance business” means the following and no other classes of assurance business, that is to say, the business of effecting contracts of insurance indemnifying the insured against liability to pay compensation or damages to any person in respect of personal injury, loss, or damage sustained by such person through the negligence of the insured or of his servant or agent acting within the scope of his employment or authority as such servant or agent (as the case may be) and the business of effecting contracts of insurance indemnifying the insured against liability to pay compensation or damages arising out of or in connection with the negligent use or condition of the property, whether real or personal, of the insured;

the expression “engineering insurance business” means the following and no other class of assurance business, that is to say, the business of effecting contracts of insurance against loss arising from damage or injury to any boiler or other apparatus containing gas, vapour or liquid under pressure or any mechanical apparatus or other machinery or arising in any other way from or in connection with the use of any such apparatus or machinery, including liability to pay compensation to third parties in relation to such apparatus or machinery;

the expression “glass insurance business” means the business of effecting contracts of insurance against loss by or incidental to the breakage of glass;

the expression “guarantee insurance business” means the business of effecting contracts of insurance with employers against loss by or incidental to fraud, embezzlement, misappropriation, forgery, theft, or larceny by employees and the business of issuing bonds or contracts of suretyship;

the expression “burglary insurance business” does not include guarantee insurance business, but subject to that overriding limitation the said expression means the business of effecting contracts of insurance against loss by or incidental to burglary, housebreaking, theft, or larceny;

the expression “sinking fund or capital redemption business” means the business of effecting contracts of insurance (otherwise than upon human life) whereby the insurer in consideration of the payment to him of one premium, or of two or more premiums paid at intervals of not less than two months, agrees to pay to the insured at a future date or on future dates one sum or a series of sums;

the word “policy” means any document or other writing by which any contract of assurance is made or agreed to be made or which is evidence of any such contract;

the word “premium” means any money or money's worth payable or paid to any person who carries on an assurance business and who in consideration of such money or money's worth undertakes any liability under any policy, bond or certificate;

the expression “assurance company” means a company (whether registered in Saorstát Eireann under the Companies Acts, 1908 to 1924, or incorporated under the law of some country other than Saorstát Eireann) which carries on any assurance business, and the said expression unless the context otherwise requires, includes a society, association, or other body which is incorporated or otherwise constituted under the law of a country other than Saorstát Eireann and carries on assurance business;

the expression “Saorstát Eireann company” means an assurance company registered in Saorstát Eireann under the Companies Acts, 1908 to 1924;

the expression “foreign company” means an assurance company which is incorporated under the law of a country other than Saorstát Eireann, and the said expression, unless the context otherwise requires, includes a society, association or other body which is incorporated or otherwise constituted under the law of a country other than Saorstát Eireann;

the word “syndicate” means any group of underwriters who are members of Lloyd's and who are certified by the Chairman of the Committee of Lloyd's to be a syndicate for the purposes of this Act;

the word “actuary” means an actuary who possesses the prescribed qualifications;

the expression “the Act of 1908” means the Companies (Consolidation) Act, 1908;

the expression “the Act of 1909” means the Assurance Companies Act, 1909, as adapted by or under the Adaptation of Enactments Act, 1922 (No. 2 of 1922), and as amended or extended by any other enactment.

4 Expenses.

4.—(1) All expenses incurred by the Minister in the execution of this Act and not otherwise provided for by this Act shall, to such extent as shall be sanctioned by the Minister for Finance, be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

(2) All expenses incurred by the Minister for Finance in the execution of this Act shall be paid out of moneys provided by the Oireachtas.

5 Regulations.

5.—The Minister may by order make regulations in relation to any matter or thing referred to in this Act as prescribed or to be prescribed and for the prescription of which no other provision is made by this Act.

6 Restriction on operation of this Act.

6.—Nothing in this Act shall affect—

(a) the validity or the due continuance and fulfilment of any contract of assurance effected before the commencement of this Part of this Act; or

(b) the liability of the life assurance fund or the industrial assurance fund of a company carrying on in Saorstát Eireann at such commencement life assurance business or industrial assurance business to the prejudice of persons who have before such commencement effected policies of life assurance or industrial assurance with any such company; or

(c) any business lawfully carried on by societies and other bodies registered in Saorstát Eireann under the Acts relating to friendly societies or to trade unions; or

(d) any business which is the insuring against risks arising out of or in connection with the use of aircraft; or

(e) any business which was, on the 31st day of October, 1935, lawfully carried on by a trade union not registered in Saorstát Eireann under the Acts relating to trade unions and which is for the time being carried on by such trade union under and in accordance with a permit in that behalf granted by the Minister; or

(f) any business which is not assurance business.

7 Repeals.

7.—(1) The following portions of the Act of 1909 are hereby repealed as on and from the commencement of Part II of this Act, that is to say, paragraphs (b), (c) and (d) of section 31, paragraphs (b) and (c) of section 32, paragraphs (a), (d) and (e) of sub-section (1) of section 33, and paragraphs (b) and (c) of section 34, and in section 35 the words “originally established more than twenty years before the commencement of this Act”.

(2) The Collecting Societies and Industrial Assurance Companies Act, 1896, and section 36 of the Act of 1909 are hereby repealed as on and from the commencement of Part V of this Act.

(3) The following portion of the Act of 1909 is hereby repealed as on and from the commencement of Part VII of this Act, that is to say in sub-section (1) of section 3 all words from the words “Provided that” to the end of that sub-section.

PART II. Assurance Licences.

8 Prohibition of unlicensed assurance business.

8.—(1) It shall not be lawful for any assurance company or other person to carry on in Saorstát Eireann any assurance business save under and in accordance with a licence (in this Act referred to as an assurance licence) granted by the Minister under this Part of this Act.

(2) Every person (other than an assurance company) who carries on any assurance business in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds together with, in the case of a continuing offence, a further fine not exceeding five pounds for every day during which the offence continues.

9 Prohibition of insuring with unlicensed insurer.

9.—(1) It shall not be lawful for any person (otherwise than in the course of re-insurance) to effect or to endeavour to effect any contract of assurance with an assurance company or any other person which or who is not the holder of an assurance licence entitling such company or person to effect contracts of assurance of the kind so effected or endeavoured to be effected by such person.

(2) Every person who effects or endeavours to effect any contract of assurance in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof to a fine not exceeding fifty pounds.

10 Transactions deemed to be assurance business in Saorstát Eireann.

10.—(1) A Saorstát Eireann company which carries on any class of assurance business shall be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to carry on assurance business in Saorstát Eireann notwithstanding that the whole or a part of such business is in fact carried on or transacted outside Saorstát Eireann.

(2) A foreign company which or a person (wherever resident or carrying on business) who issues (otherwise than in the course or by way of re-insurance) a policy, bond, certificate, or other instrument of insurance to a person ordinarily resident in Saorstát Eireann, or issues to any such person a policy, bond, certificate, or other instrument of insurance in respect of a liability, loss, or damage which will arise (if at all) in Saorstát Eireann, or accepts from any person ordinarily resident in Saorstát Eireann a premium in respect of a policy so issued after the commencement of this Part of this Act shall, if the issue of such instrument of insurance or the acceptance of such premium was done in the course and as part of the carrying on of a business which is assurance business within the meaning of this Act, be deemed, for the purposes of this Act, to carry on assurance business in Saorstát Eireann whether such instrument is issued from or such premium is accepted at a place in or a place outside Saorstát Eireann.

11 Applications for assurance licences.

11.—(1) Any assurance company or any syndicate may apply to the Minister for an assurance licence authorising it to carry on a specified assurance business.

(2) Every application under this section for an assurance licence shall be in the prescribed form and be made in the prescribed manner, and shall state the class or classes of assurance business which the assurance company or syndicate (as the case may be) making such application proposes to carry on, together with such other particulars as may be prescribed.

(3) Every assurance company or syndicate which applies under this section for an assurance licence shall, when required by the Minister so to do, furnish to the Minister all such information as the Minister may require for the consideration of such application.

(4) The Minister may require any statement of fact made in an application for an assurance licence or made to the Minister in response to a request for information under the next preceding sub-section of this section to be verified by the statutory declaration of some person having personal knowledge of the facts so stated.

(5) If any person, in an application for an assurance licence or in furnishing any information in pursuance of a requisition of the Minister under this section, makes any statement which is false or misleading in any material respect, such person shall be guilty of an offence under this section and shall be liable on summary conviction thereof, in the case of a first such offence, to a fine not exceeding one hundred pounds and, in the case of a second or any subsequent such offence, to a fine not exceeding five hundred pounds.

(6) If any assurance company or any syndicate fails to furnish any information or any verification which such company or syndicate (as the case may be) is required by the Minister under this section to furnish, the Minister may, on the ground of such failure and without prejudice to any other power of refusal conferred on him by this Act, refuse the application in relation to which such information or verification was so required.

(7) On every application under this section for an assurance licence there shall be paid such fee as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Finance, shall prescribe and the due payment of such fee shall be a condition precedent to the entertainment of the application by the Minister.

(8) All fees payable under this section shall be paid into or disposed of for the benefit of the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister for Finance shall direct.

(9) The Public Offices Fees Act, 1879, shall not apply in respect of any fees payable under this section.

12 Grant of assurance licences.

12.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, the Minister may, in his discretion, grant or refuse an application for an assurance licence.