BELGIUM Law and Practice Contributed by: Hugo Keulers, Sandra Lodewijckx, Tine Meurs and Thomas Verheyen, Lydian
In addition, data protection and privacy laws are sometimes invoked by insureds strategically to influ- ence the application of the laws of evidence in their favour. Furthermore, the AI Act qualifies AI systems used for risk assessment and pricing of individual’s life and health insurance as high-risk; changes in underwrit- ing practices are therefore expected. 8.4 Data Centres So far, the rapid growth of data centres is mainly per- ceived as an opportunity for property underwriters to provide suitable insurance coverage for these data centres. However, in the last few years, there have been a number of fire incidents at such data centres, with resulting liability litigation that may impact the pricing of these policies. Given the potentially sys- temic nature of incidents at data centres, insurers will likely develop tailored wording (including exclusions) to be able to continue offering attractive insurance products despite this difficulty from an underwriting perspective. 8.5 Social Media Risk The increased number of mental-health related diag- noses presents a significant challenge for the health insurance industry. In particular, insurers are required to strike the right balance between insurability, afford- ability and equal treatment in the context of long-term insurance contracts mandated by law. 8.6 Next Generation Nuclear From an insurance and liability perspective, small modular reactors (“SMRs”) fall within the existing stat- utory framework set out by the Act of 22 July 1985 on liability in the field of nuclear energy. Regarding cover- age adequacy and quantification of risk, the modular and potentially distributed nature of SMR deployment (multiple units, potentially at varied sites) creates questions about the aggregation of liability exposure, the adequacy of existing coverage, and how insurers will model and price risk for reactor designs that differ structurally from those on which historical actuarial data is based.
The language of the existing frameworks primarily focuses on fission, and regulators and legislators will need to address this challenge as fusion technology matures. 9. Legislative and Regulatory Key Trends 9.1 Regulatory Focus Areas and Supervisory Trends The Belgian conduct regulator (FSMA) has increas- ingly focussed on: • value for money in life insurance, the focus being on recurring fees and pricing transparency, while in non-life insurance, the regulator investigates claims ratios; • collective or group insurance contracts, in line with European developments; • proper licensing and registration of intermediaries; and • anti-money laundering (AML) knowledge and pro- cedures within insurance intermediaries. The National Bank of Belgium (NBB), which is the insurance undertakings’ prudential regulator, has focused on the increased risk of natural catastrophes, which affects insurers both at the level of coverage due to insureds and at the level of the assets they invest in to comply with their solvency requirements. 9.2 Forthcoming Reforms and Market Impact To date, no significant legislative or regulatory devel- opments that may affect insurance coverage, insur- ance litigation or claims have been identified. How- ever, it is possible they will be enacted in the near future, particularly in relation to climate change and natural disasters.
32 I NSURANCE L I T IGATI O N 2026
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