In 2006 a new law governing insurance contracts went into force. The new law brought among other things a few changes regarding what the insurance takers has to inform the insurance companies about when they want to buy insurance.

This essay clarifies the current legal situation regarding this duty. The essay analysis both the extent of the duty as well as the legal consequences one might face if the duty is not fulfilled.

The information an insurance taker is forced to give to the insurance company can be divided into two separate groups. The first group contains the kind of information that has been requested by the insurance company. In this case the insurance taker has to give the information to the company if the information is important for the company while calculating the risk. The second group contains the information the insurance taker has to give to the insurance company even if it does not request it. In this case the insurance taker has to inform the insurance company of circumstances that for an ordinary insurance taker are of obvious importance for the risk calculation.

In order for there to be any consequences for the insurance taker when this duty is not fulfilled there has to have been some kind of carelessness from the insurance taker. In effect this means that the insurance taker is only obliged to inform the insurance company about circumstances it should have known.

There are four possible consequences for the insurance taker when this duty is not fulfilled. If it would be in conflict with belief an honor to invoke the contract or if there has been actions equivalent to fraud the contract is deemed void. In other cases the insurance payment is reduced in accordance to the pro rata principle or by the principle of causality. The insurance company also has the right to give notice of dismissal of the contract.