Discrimination in insurance

For the seventh time, the CRIS - Centre for Risk and Insurance Studies of the K.U.Leuven - and the Diplôme d’études spécialisées en droit et économie des assurances de l’U.C.L organise an international European insurance law conference, this time focusing on the theme of discrimination in insurance.

At a time where in the national law of several countries, general anti-discrimination legislation is enacted or prepared and the EU - Member States are in the process of adapting their legislation to several directives, the time seems ripe for a thorough analysis of the conceptual framework and the legal translation of the ban on discrimination in horizontal relations. For the insurance sector whose technique is largely based on risk-classification and risk-selection, the issue is of major importance, both at a theoretical and at a practical level.

Offering first a comprehensive overview of the present state of the European Community law and of the difficulties that Member States are coping with in their national law with respect to the issue of discrimination in insurance, the colloquium will further concentrate on a discussion of a number of conceptual issues like the acceptability of the use of certain risk-factors (controllability, immutability), the Rawlsian approach to the concept of equality, the debate between the ‘individualistic human rights tradition’ and the insurance ‘group tradition’. Special attention will be given to the first case-law applications of the ban on discrimination and to the implementation of the recent European Directive 2004/113/EC on the equal treatment between men and women.

With the support of and in collaboration with

8u30
Reception of participants

9u00
Welcome address
Chairman Bernard Dubuisson, Professor Université Catholique de Louvain, President “Commission des Assurances“, Belgium

Morning session – Discrimination in contractual relations

9u15
The European legal framework of the non-discrimination rule
Jean-Marc Binon, Legal secretary at the European Court of Justice, maître de conférences invité Université Catholique de Louvain

10u00
The non-discrimination rule in the EU Member States: typology and implementation of European Law
Dagmar Schiek, Professor Carl Von Ossietzky University Oldenburg

10u40
Coffee break

11u10
The concept of objective and reasonable justification
Jan Velaers, Professor Universiteit Antwerpen

11u50
Non-discrimination in insurance: a Belgian illustration

The conflict between the Anti-discrimination Act and the Complementary Pensions Act
Christian Bayart, Attorney Allen & Overy Brussels

Implementation of Directive 2004/113/EC on the equal treatment between men and women
Aline Waleffe, Legal Department CBFA (Belgian Banking, Finance and Insurance Commission)

12u20
Discussion

12u45
Lunch

Afternoon session – Equal treatment in insurance

14u15
Introduction by the Chairman Herman Cousy, Professor K.U.Leuven

14u25
The legal limits to insurance classification
Caroline Van Schoubroeck, Professor K.U.Leuven
Yves Thiery, Research Fellow of the Fund for Scientific Research Flanders, assistant K.U.Leuven

15u00
Coffee break

15u20
The limits to risk classification: actuarial perspectives
Fabian De Bilderling, Member of the Royal Association of Belgian Actuaries, Public Affairs
Manager Belgacom

15u50
Discussion launched by Sébastien Van Drooghenbroeck
Chargé de Cours Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis Brussels

16u30 Key Note Speaker
Human Rights and the social role of private insurance
Trudo Lemmens, Professor University of Toronto

17u15
Reception

Time and venue
The colloquium takes place in the Promotion Room at the University Hall K.U.Leuven, access to the building via Naamsestraat 22, 3000 Leuven
Parking facilities at "Parking Ladeuze" and St-Jacobsplein.

Simultaneous translation
Dutch, French and English.

Registration fee
The registration fee amounts to € 330 per participant. VRG-alumni can attend the conference at a reduced price of € 300.

The price includes, besides lunch and coffees, the full proceedings of the colloquium which will be published as a book and sent to the participants after the Colloquium.

Please do not forget to carefully mention the reference “400/0000/23075” and to indicate the name of the participant on whose behalf the payment is made if the payment is made by another instance.