The government has set out the legislative approach
and proposed draft regulations for implementing the European Court of Justice
judgment on gender neutrality in the pricing of insurance premiums and
benefits.
It follows the Commission’s guidelines in
confirming that:
- The use of risk factors that correlate with
gender should still be possible within the scope of the judgment and provided
they are a true risk factor in their own right;
- Gender can be used as an actuarial factor
provided this does not result in individual differences in premiums and
benefits;
- Group insurance schemes for employees may
continue to use gender in pricing the policies.
However much a handful of brokers and insurers
continue to whine about the gender ruling, it is a done deal that will not
change.
From 21 December 2012, insurers cannot use gender as a rating factor
when pricing risk or paying benefits.
