Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China has been amended at the 7th session of the Standing Committee of the 11th National People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China on February 28, 2009 and the new version shall come into force on October 1, 2009.
Legislation Background
Insurance Law of the People’s Republic of China, enacted in 1995, was the first basic law on insurance of China. The legislative mode is unity of “insurance industry law” and “insurance contract law”. In 2002, to keep the promise for the insurance Industry to the WTO, the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress amended the Insurance Law the first time but only focused on the section of “insurance industry law”.
Recently, the development of insurance is beyond expectation. The emergence of a large number of new things, the rapid development of the insurance and the demands of insurance supervision all show that the existing insurance law has seriously lagged behind. Especially, the amendment in 2002 nearly didn’t involve the section of “insurance contract law”, while the section itself had many flaws and is the field where the most disputes happen.
Main points
The amendment of Insurance Law this time is more comprehensive, not only with regard to the insurance industry law, but also related to insurance contract law. Besides, the structure also has been adjusted.
Insurance contract law
During the implement of the existing Insurance Law, there are many controversies about the rules on insurance contract law. Great obvious progresses have been made in this field, this time. Such as the establishment and effectiveness of insurance contract, the disclosure obligation including the applicant and insurers and their agents, the insurance value and so on.
Second, the management on market subjects
According to the emergence of new market subjects, such as insurance asset management companies, insurance agencies and mutual insurance companies, the amendment has modified and supplemented from the organization of insurance companies, the entry and exit of market to insurance intermediary, not only enriching the existing management rules but also adding articles on new market subjects.
Third, insurance operation
The amendment also has made changes on the business scope of insurance companies, the use of capital and the market code of conduct, leaving the space for widening business scope. For example, to the use of capital, the companies not only meet the needs of development of Industry and Economy, but also should take the principle of safety into account.
Fourth, insurance supervision
The amendment has set out basic regulations for the China Insurance Regulatory Commission and its staff. It stipulates clearly that supervision divisions should build and improve the regulatory mechanism on insurance company solvency, also supervise them. Based on this principle, there are also many specific articles.
Fifth, legal liability
The amendment further clarifies the legal liability, increasing the punishments’ method and power, especially the stipulation of legal consequences on illegally employing insurance practitioners and double punishments of illegal act on both companies and employees.
Conclusion
New Insurance law clarifies the rights and obligations between the tow insurance sides. It not only strengthens the extent of protection for the insured person, but also widens the business scope and creates conditions for development of insurance. Meantime the insurance supervision also has been intensified. Those all definitely have important impact on improving the law system of insurance and insurance status and promoting the sustainable and healthy development of insurance Industry.
参考译文：
《中华人民共和国保险法》
《中华人民共和国保险法》已由中华人民共和国第十一届全国人民代表大会常务委员会第七次会议于2009年2月28日通过，自2009年10月1日起施行。
立法背景
《中华人民共和国保险法》颁布于1995年，是我国第一部保险基本法。在立法模式上是“保险业法”和“保险合同法”的合一。2002年，针对我国加入世贸组织对保险业要求的承诺，全国人大常委会对保险法进行了第一次修正，修正内容重在“保险业法”部分。
近年来，保险业的快速发展远远超出预期，大量新生事物的出现、快速发展的保险业及由此产生的监管需要，暴露出现行保险法的滞后。特别是由于2002年修法基本未涉及“保险合同法”部分。这部分内容本身存在缺陷较多，又恰恰是目前保险法律关系中产生纠纷最多的领域。
修订重点
这次对《保险法》的修改，是一次比较全面的修改，既涉及到保险业法，也涉及到保险合同法。而且，对于法律文本的结构作了调整。
1、保险合同法律规范
现行《保险法》在实施过程中，有关保险合同部分的规则存在不少争议。而这次的修改，在这些方面都有明显的进步。例如：关于保险合同的成立和生效；告知义务，其中包括投保人的告知义务，保险人及其代理人的说明义务；关于保险价值的问题等等。
2、市场主体管理制度
这次修改保险法，根据近年来已经出现的新兴市场主体，比如保险资产管理公司、保险公估机构以及探索试点中的相互制保险企业等，分别从保险公司组织形式、市场准入和退出、保险中介等方面进行了修改和补充，进一步充实了现有保险主体部分的管理规则，增加了规范新型市场主体的条款。
3、保险经营规则
这次修改，在保险公司业务范围、资金运用、市场行为准则等方面都有相应的改变，为拓宽保险公司业务范围留有空间。例如，关于保险资金运用，考虑到保险资金运用既要满足行业和经济发展的需要，又要兼顾安全稳健的原则。
4、保险监管制度
这次修改后的保险法，对保监会及其工作人员的履职行为制定了基本规范。明确规定监管机构应当建立健全保险公司偿付能力监管体系,对保险公司的偿付能力实施监控，在这一原则基础上，还有许多具体的规定。
5、法律责任
这次保险法修订，进一步明确了保险违法行为的法律责任，增加了处罚方式，加大了处罚力度，尤其是增加了关于违法聘任保险从业人员的法律后果的规定，和对于保险违法的双重处罚，即对于单位和从业人员的双重处罚。
结论
本法明确了保险双方权利义务关系，一方面，加强对被保险方合法利益的保护；另一方面，扩大了保险业的经营范围，为保险业的发展创造了条件。同时，加强了保险监管职能。这些无疑为完善保险法制、改善保险现状、促进保险业持续健康发展具有重要意义。
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