New Trends in Turkish Insurance Law

Samim Ünan, Senior Litigation Counsel and Director of Information Management & Strategy, Anadolu Anonim Turk Sigorta Sirketi, Turkey

In 2007 the Turkish Parliament adopted new legislation (Act no. 5684) on insurance activities. We now have new rules in the area of control law. On the other hand the rules pertaining to contract law will most probably be enacted in the near future since it is on the agenda of the Parliament to draft a new Code of Commerce of which one main part is dedicated to insurance contract. Below I will try to describe some of the important points of both the new legislation on control and the draft new legislation on contract.

Anadolu Anonim Turk Sigorta Sirketi. The Group's principal activity is providing non-life insurance including fire, marine, accident, motor third party liability, engineering, agriculture, legal protection, personal accident, health, credit and home insurance packages. Its products include combined motor vehicles insurance policies, which include vehicle storage and safekeeping, towing, healthcare assistance, coverage for driver, passengers and those outside the vehicle and legal defense expenses, as well as minor repair services. Residential fire insurance offers services such as legal consultancy and medical assistance in case of damages to residences and their contents caused by theft, explosion, fire, internal water, vehicle impact, aircraft impact and natural disasters such as lightning, flood, storm, landslide and earthquake. The Group had a total of 1,501 agencies as of January, 2008. The branches of cooperating banks, such as Turk Sinai Kalkinma Bankasi A.S., also serve as agencies.