The equal treatment or unisex directive of 2004 governs the use of gender-specific actuarial factors in the insurance industry and for related financial services. It stipulates that the use of gender as a factor may not lead to a difference in premiums or benefits for policies purchased after 21 December 2007. There has been one exception to this rule: Member states may continue to allow proportional differences in premiums and benefits, if gender is a determining factor in a risk assessment that is based on relevant and precise actuarial and statistical data.
In its ruling of 1 March 2011, the Court of Justice of the European Union declared this exception invalid. It found the exception to be in conflict with the objective of equal treatment of men and women when calculating insurance premiums and services and therefore incompatible with the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
The transitional period for the amended requirements ends on 21 December 2012. From this day forward, the unisex directive applies without exception to new policies purchased after this date.
Vienna Insurance Group has initiated all of the processes needed for changing the rate calculations for all personal insurance products in all of the subsidiaries concerned, so that the above requirements will be satisfied in time for new policies.
