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Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL) / English Version

The Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL) are developed by an international research group to provide the reinsurance market with transnational uniform soft law rules. Their ambition is to achieve greater transparency and legal certainty in a sector of law primarily based on individual contracts and known for its lack of legal tangibility. For the current English version of the PRICL see the PRICL Website.

In Frankfurt, both Prof. Dr. Manfred Wandt and Prof. Dr. Jens Gal (Secretary General) contribute to the project as members of the Principles Drafting Committee (PDC). Former research assistant Dr. Kevin Bork contributes to the project as a special advisor. Research assistant Robin Ettl takes part as a member of academic staff and is at your disposal for any further information. The project involvement of the Goethe-University Frankfurt is funded by the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft – German Research Foundation). For further information regarding the DFG specifics of the project see here.

The General Assembly of UNIDROIT (The International Institute for the Unification of Private Law) endorsed a recommendation of the Governing Council to include the project in the UNIDROIT Work Programme for the triennium 2017–2019 at its 75th session in December 2016. At its 98th session, the Governing Council took note of the finalized PRICL, commended their use of the UNIDROIT Principles and authorized a reference to PRICL on UNIDROIT Website. For further information regarding UNIDROIT and PRICL see here.

History: The PRICL are the product of a research network established by Prof. Helmut Heiss, Prof. Anton K. Schnyder (both University of Zurich), Prof. Martin Schauer (University of Vienna) and Prof. Manfred Wandt (University of Frankfurt am Main) in 2015. It consists of a Principles Drafting Committee (PDC), made up of academics from countries with leading insurance sectors, and represents as many legal families in the world as possible. The PDC is advised by an Advisory Group Reinsurers (AGR) and an Advisory Group Direct Insurers (AGI). In 2019, after four years of progress, the PRICL were published, together with accompanying comments and illustrations. Since then, research and development are continuing to extend coverage of the PRICL over more topics.

Aim: The PRICL should lead to a more intensive international academic discourse regarding the law of reinsurance, which represents a globally important financial services sector. This will be achieved by providing a uniform frame of reference and uniform legal terminology. By utilising conflict of law provisions, especially private autonomy in arbitration, the PRICL should provide the reinsurance industry with the opportunity to design and conclude their contracts based on a single reinsurance contract law, which is uniform and transparent across the world. In providing a uniform frame of reference and uniform legal terminology the PRICL aim to encourage international academic discourse regarding the law of reinsurance. For further general information see the PRICL Website.

 

In a first version, the PRICL have been published on 28 November 2019 and are publicly avaiable: Heiss, Helmut/Schauer, Martin/Wandt, Manfred (eds.), The Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law 2019. Prof. Dr. Manfred Wandt and Dr. Kevin Bork account for the third chapter of the PRICL (Remedies, p. 64). So far, the PRICL have been the occasion for multiple scientific papers and events, of which the following list is an extract:

Scientific Papers:
  • Barroso de Mello, Principles and Rules of Law Applicable to the International Reinsurance Contract – PRICL, Resseguro Online, n.49, April 2016, pp. 3 ff.
  • Barroso de Mello, Principles and Derogations Applicable to International Legal Reinsurance Contract Principles and Rules Applicable to International Reinsurance Contracts, Insurance Market, AÑO XXXIX, No. 430, September 2016.
  • Barroso de Mello, Principles and Rules of Law Applicable to the International Reinsurance Contract – PRICL, AIDA Insurance Law Journal Brazil, March 2017.
  • Barroso de Mello, Principles and Rules of Law Applicable to the International Reinsurance Contract – PRICL, Opinion.Seg Magazine, Roncarati, No. 16, May 2019, pp. 51 ff.
  • Bork/Wandt, Mehr Rechtssicherheit in der Rückversicherung – Ein Einblick in die Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL), VW 2020 (Issue 2), pp. 78 ff.
  • Bork/Wandt, Der moderne Guidon de la Mer: die Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL), VersR, vol. 18, 2019, pp. 1113 ff.
  • Bork/Wandt, The modern Guidon de la Mer: the Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL), VersR, vol. 23, 2019, pp. 1468 ff.
  • Bork, Tension of Reinsurance: die Folgepflicht des Rückversicherers im Licht des Regulierungsermessens des Erstversicherers, Dissertation, XXIII + 406 p., publication series "Rechtsvergleichung und Rechtsvereinheitlichung", Mohr Siebeck, Tubingen 2020.
  • Cerini, Duties and remedies in the Principles of International Commercial Contracts (PICC) and the Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL): notes for a comparison, 25 Uniform Law Review 2020.
  • Heiss/William, The Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL), O dobre prawo dla ubezpieczeń: księga jubileuszowa Profesora Eugeniusza Kowalewskiego, Torun 2019, pp. 49 ff.
  • Heiss, From Contract Certainty to Legal Certainty for Reinsurance Transactions: the Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL), Scandinavian Studies of Law, vol. 64, 2018, pp. 91 ff.
  • Heiss, Introduction to the Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL) and Their General Rules, Uniform Law Review, vol. 1, 2020 (in print).
  • Kuitunen, Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law Project – Enhancing the Value of Reinsurance Cover – Viewpoint of an Industry Practitioner, Uniform Law Review, vol. 1, 2020 (in print).
  • Wandt/Gal, Solvency II's Unexpected Indirect Regulation of the Reinsurance Contract – The Creation of Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL) as a Means to Safeguard a Centuries Old Tradition of Self-Regulation, ICIR Annual Report, 2017, pp. 60 ff.
  • Wandt, Insurance and Reinsurance Law: Vietnamese Law and Transnational Principles, Jurisprudence Journal Vietnam 2018, pp. 28 ff.
  • William, The Law of Aggregation in Reinsurance: a Source of Inefficiency in the Market, Dissertation (in print).
  • Witthoff, PRICL: a Reinsurer ́s View, Uniform Law Review, vol. 1, 2020 (in print).
Scientific Events:
  • Angell/Heiss/Kuitunen/Lang/Witthoff, Panel discussion on the topic: Introducing Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL), 7th AIDA Europe Conference, 12 April 2018, Warsaw.
  • Cerini, PRICL: the Duties of the Parties, 98th session of the UNIDROIT Governing Council, 10 May 2019, Rome.
  • Heiss, Vortrag: PEICLs et PRICLs: Soft Law?, AIDA – Conseil de Presidence, Groupes de Travail et Colloque, 3 December 2015, Paris.
  • Heiss, PRICL – Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law, FGV Direito Rio, 31 October 2017, Rio de Janeiro.
  • Heiss, Introducing Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL), 7th AIDA Europe Conference, 12 April 2018, Warsaw.
  • Heiss, Introduction to the Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL) and their general rules, 98th session of the UNIDROIT Governing Council, 10. Mai 2019, Rome.
  • Heiss, PRICL – A new Contract Framework – Generalities, 8th AIDA Europe Conference, 3 October 2019, Lisbon.
  • Heiss, Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL) – Idee und Grundlagen, DVfVW Annual Conference, 28 March 2019, Berlin.
  • Heiss, Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law, 8° Encontro de Resseguro do Rio de Janeiro, 8 April 2019, Rio de Janeiro.
  • Kuitunen, Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law Project – Enhancing the Value of Reinsurance Cover – Viewpoint of an Industry Practitioner, 98th session of the UNIDROIT Governing Council, 10 May 2019, Rome.
  • Wandt, Principles of Reinsurance Contract Law (PRICL) – Regelungsinhalt, DVfVW Annual Conference, 28 March 2019, Berlin.
  • Wandt, Zur Bedeutung der Rückversicherung und des Rückversicherungsrechts, November 2019, Vietnam.
  • Wandt, Reinsurance Principles in a Changing Legal Environment: PRICL – Remedies, 8th AIDA Europe Conference, 3 October 2019, Lisbon.
  • William, PRICL – a New Contract Framework – Aggregation, 8th AIDA Europe Conference, 3 October 2019, Lisbon.
  • Witthoff, PRICL: a Reinsurer ́s View, 98th session of the UNIDROIT Governing Council, 10 May 2019, Rome.