Thesis: O.-J. Luik, The application of principles of European insurance contract law to policyholders of the Baltic States: A measure for the protection of policyholders. Dissertationes Iuridicae Universitatis Tartuensis 59. Tartu: University of Tartu Press 2016 (227 pp.). Full text in the University of Tartu repository (DSpace) (defended 2016)
Supervisor: Professor Villu Kõve.
Research question
The thesis asks whether the Principles of European Insurance Contract Law (PEICL) would protect policyholders in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania better than their national laws, and whether using PEICL as an optional instrument would be a measure of policyholder protection.
Topics and conclusions
The topics correspond to the author's articles published in the same period comparing PEICL and Baltic law: the policyholder's pre-contractual disclosure duty, the premium, post-loss obligations, and aggravation of risk and precautionary measures. The common conclusion of those articles is that PEICL is more consumer-oriented and flexible than Baltic law and limits the insurer's release from performance, without being unreasonably radical: it balances the parties' interests sensibly.
Relevance today
PEICL has not been adopted as EU law. However, the idea that an insurer's release must be proportionate to the effect of the breach has gained ground in Estonian case law. The thesis is available in full text and remains a useful English-language source on Baltic insurance contract law.