The program for the AIDA World Congress in Rome has now been finalised.

 It is exciting indeed. The congress occurs every four years. The last was in Paris in 2010 and, after Rome, the next is in Rio in 2018.  It is one of the major regular gatherings for people interested in insurance law.

The program has five plenary sessions covering some hot current topics in insurance and insurance law:
• Transparency;
• Online insurance;
• Discrimination;
• Preventive measures; and
• Arbitration and insurance.

Eminent international experts representing many geographical, legal, and industry sectors will discuss the topics. The format includes opportunities for audience participation.

The arbitration and insurance session will be chaired by the experienced Italian arbitrator Piero Bernardini and includes four distinguished experts on the panel: ARIAS Latin America co-founder Osvaldo Contreras-Strauch, from Chile; Professor Marcel Fontaine, a leading figure in arbitration thought; Federation of Defence and Corporate Counsel president Vicki Roberts, who has practical experience in arbitration and mediation; and retired England and Wales Lord Justice of Appeal, Sir Bernard Rix.  

For the discrimination session, South African Professor Birgit Kuschke will lead a panel examining issues vexing the industry, particularly in light of recent judgements such as that by the European Court on motor insurance.

Questionnaires on each topic have been responded to by about 30 diverse jurisdictions. Reports using that information are being prepared by each general reporter and will be available to delegates shortly before the World Congress. The information will be a valuable addition to the bank of knowledge of those involved in insurance law.

The 13 expert AIDA working parties have very topical programs for their Rome meetings. For example, the Climate Change Working Party (with speakers from Australia, Colombia, South Africa and the USA) is tackling:

• Fracking (and mining) - particularly legal and coverage problems presented by the extraction of shale gas and other fossil fuels
• Flooding - are insurers managing the rising tides?
• Agricultural insurance - coping with threats to food production.  

AIDA’s regional groupings will have their own interesting programs. For example, the AIDA Europe session at the congress will discuss: “What is insurance?”  This is a hot topic on which there are many views - what products fall within the definition and which do not? The session will be chaired by the experienced chairman at past AIDA Europe conferences, Professor Herman Cousy, and AIDA Europe’s vice chairman, Professor Jerome Kullmann.

The most comprehensive and up-to-date information about the congress and its program is on the congress website, where you can also register.

The AIDA World Congress is a unique opportunity for anyone with an interest in insurance law to enhance their competency, especially in areas of current concern for the profession and the industry. It brings together experts from many jurisdictions with whom experiences can be shared and solutions explored.

It is a cost-effective way to improve knowledge and network successfully. 

 

Michael Gill’s Athens presentation

AIDA’s importance on the global stage and the relationship between Australia and Greece were shared in AIDA President Michael Gill’s presentation to a Hellenic Insurance Law Association meeting in Athens.

Mr Gill said  the greatest thing about AIDA was the opportunity it afforded for people from different nations, languages, cultures, religions, and legal traditions to “come together under the auspices of something that binds them, something that is fundamentally important, not just to our industry and our profession, but society at large - good law and, specifically, good insurance law”.

He said AIDA had “a pivotal role to play within the rule of law and within access to justice. What we do is very significant work. And the extent to which it becomes better, because we do it together and we learn from each other, is what AIDA is all about”.

Mr Gill said the first Greeks to come to Australia were seven sailors who were convicted by a British court of a crime and transported to Sydney in 1829.

Their convictions were subsequently overturned and five returned to Greece but two remained on in Australia. Mr Gill mused on how many Greek-Australians may have researched their roots to see whether their ancestry included innocent Australian convicts of Greek origin.

The first Greek free settler to come to Australia in 1835 was a young lady from the island of Kalymnos. Waves of Greeks followed.

The 2012 Australian census showed more than 400,000 people of Greek origin in Australia.

“The people of Melbourne insist it’s the second-biggest Greek city in the world. I don't know whether that’s true; Australians don’t worry too much about the accuracy of that sort of thing. We have the biggest, the best and the brightest of everything: we just sort of throw these claims around,” Mr Gill said. “But it’s fair to say it is an important connection.”

Mr Gill said he was proud that three Presidential Council meetings during his term of office had been at the eastern end of the Mediterranean - in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem; in Istanbul in Turkey; and in Athens, Greece.

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