AIDA Presidential Council report

As Sue Vidler has mentioned in the President's column, AILA is a joint host of the first AIDA regional conference, proposed to be held in Singapore on 19-21 September 2017.

Originally it was hoped to hold the conference in 2016 to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the landmark insurance law case Carter v Boehm, but logistical challenges rendered that impossible. 

A great deal of energy time and energy is being committed to making the event a huge success. It enjoys the support of the AIDA Presidential Council, whose members are excited about the prospect of the first Asian regional conference, which will co-host a Presidential Council meeting and meetings of the various AIDA working parties. 

Many have been working tirelessly to garner support for the conference, including past AIDA President Michael Gill, Greg Pynt, David Lee, and Simon Goh in Singapore. An international committee has been established to bring it to fruition.

We have also attracted support and interest from the US-based Federation of Defence and Corporate Counsel (FDCC). The FDCC representative on the organising committee is New York-based lawyer Richard Traub, who is actively working with the committee to attract US interest and encourage US lawyers to attend.

To bolster US interest, David Lee and I will attend the next FDCC meeting in San Diego in early March, where we will present to the US membership. This is an exciting event and expands and consolidates the evolution of AIDA chapters in Asia. 

The scientific program will focus on matters of key interest to Asian insurance and legal markets and give Australian and New Zealand members an unparalleled networking opportunity. 

While the event will result in the suspension of the AILA National Conference scheduled for Perth in 2017, I believe all members will see the enormous value of the Singapore conference and support it with substantial registration numbers. It is an opportunity not to be missed.

I look forward to seeing you in Singapore in September 2017. 

VIth AIDA Europe Conference, Istanbul

The AIDA Europe Student/Academic Sub-Committee, comprising Prof Robert Koch and Dr Kyriaki Noussia, invites students and young academics and practitioners to participate in the VIth AIDA Europe Conference in Istanbul on 3-4 November 2016.

The sub-committee has issued a call for papers so it can assess prospective papers for potential selection for presentation at a working party session during the conference.

Interested people should send an abstract of one A4 page to both Prof Koch (Robert.koch@jura.uni-hamburg.de) and Dr Noussia (noussia@gmail.com).

If selected, they will later have to submit the article and a Powerpoint presentation.

They will receive accommodation for two nights, an economy class return airfare and the conference fee will be waived.

The working parties’ topics are:

Consumer protection and dispute resolution
- What is the current position of the EU in relation to on-line dispute resolution for consumers? What does the future hold?
- The EU policy on consumer protection in insurance – latest trends and developments

Distribution of insurance products
- The insurer's counterparty in group policies: Policyholder or intermediary?

Reinsurance
- A comparative study of insurance risk misrepresentation and its effects in various jurisdictions
- Aggregation and/or allocation in reinsurance contracts

Motor insurance
- Indemnification of moral damage according to the jurisprudence of CJCE and restoration of the victims of car accidents
- Preventive measures of insurers against insurance frauds, with particular regard to motor insurance

Marine insurance
- Cyber risks and marine insurance

Climate change
- Climate change and liability risks
- Is the development of legal accountability for failures to adapt to or mitigate the effects of climate change being helped or hindered by insurers?
- Climate change and physical/property risks
- Climate change, insurance and the law

General topics proposed by the AIDA chapter of Greece
- The boundaries between large risk, non-large risk and consumer insurance
- Insured persons other than the policyholder under the principles of European insurance contract law and the consequences of the breach of duty by one insured
- Group insurance arranger: Policyholder or intermediary?

Deadline for submission of abstracts - 15 March 2016
Decision on submitted abstracts - 30 April
Deadline for submission of the article - 31 July
Deadline for submission of the Powerpoint presentation - 15 Sept