The Insurance Authority is working on protecting the rights of insurance policyholders and beneficiaries and to achieve balance and fairness between these rights and the interests of companies in order to enhance the competitiveness of the local insurance market and develop its performance in line with the continuous development and advanced growth of the national economy

The initiative of Insurance Dispute Settlement and Resolution Committees is the most recent among a series of initiatives by the IA aiming at protecting the rights of insurance policyholders and beneficiaries. In addition to accelerating the resolution of insurance disputes and ensuring that the insured and beneficiaries of insurance contracts obtain their rights promptly, fairly and objectivity. Eventually, this will lead to the establishment of a developed Emirati insurance market that can compete globally

The establishment of Insurance Dispute Settlement and Resolution Committees in the IA was in implementation of the Federal Law No. (3) of 2018 on the amendment of certain provisions of the Federal Law No. (6) of 2007 concerning the Establishment of the Insurance Authority and the Organization of Insurance Operations and the amendments thereof, which entrusted the IA to form committees to settle and resolve insurance disputes prior to judicial recourse

Insurance Dispute Settlement and Resolution Committees started their work recently through two committees in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, with the possibility of forming other committees in any emirate as the case may be and according to the public interest. The committees started to receive insurance complaints and disputes from the insured, the beneficiaries and affected parties, studying them, and taking decisions to settle and resolve these disputes

The work of the committees includes all types and classes of insurance arising from the complaints of the insured, the beneficiaries, or affected stakeholders in the insurance dispute against the insurance companies licensed to carry out insurance activities in the UAE, regardless of their value, and whether estimated or not

Based on the IA’s keenness on the principle of transparency and fairness in the work of the dispute settlement committees, the heads of the committees were selected from the judiciary and the membership of the IA’s employees with experience in insurance business, in order to achieve the goal of protecting the rights of the insured and the beneficiaries of the insurance and to achieve the interests of the insurance parties according to the defined legal frameworks

The number of insurance disputes received by the Insurance Dispute Settlement and Resolution Committees at the Insurance Authority since the activation of their work and functions "remotely" reached to (561) insurance disputes in various types of insurance. The Insurance Dispute Settlement Committees also succeeded in holding (13) remote sessions, during which (276) insurance disputes were studied and (207) related decisions were issued

The Insurance Authority provides the service of receiving complaints or insurance disputes electronically through the Insurance Dispute Resolution System on the Authority’s website “www.ia.gov.ae”. This is part of the set of smart and electronic services provided by the IA to avoid visits and gatherings in service centers to curb the  spread of the new Coronavirus COVID-19