{"id":43510,"date":"2018-11-03T09:56:31","date_gmt":"2018-11-03T07:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/?p=43510"},"modified":"2018-11-05T16:02:52","modified_gmt":"2018-11-05T14:02:52","slug":"bulgarias-ruling-party-proposes-bgn-20000-price-of-life-insurance-ceiling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bivol.bg\/en\/bulgarias-ruling-party-proposes-bgn-20000-price-of-life-insurance-ceiling.html","title":{"rendered":"Bulgaria\u2019s Ruling Party Proposes BGN 20,000 \u2018Price of Life\u2019 Insurance Ceiling"},"content":{"rendered":"

On November 1, at the end of the working day, a text was tabled at the registry of the National Assembly (Bulgarian Parliament), which sets the ceiling on the non-pecuniary damages that insurers pay to relatives after the death of family members in case of a road or other accident and casualty.<\/p>\n

The author of the text, Menda Stoyanova<\/strong>, from the ruling Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (GERB) party has assessed the damages at BGN 20,000 as a maximum of one-off damages for the spouses, children and parents of the deceased, BGN 15,000 for brothers and sisters and BGN 5,000 for other persons as an exception.<\/p>\n

The changes are not accompanied with any motivation and come between two readings on the bill for amendments to the Insurance Code.<\/p>\n

Up to now, the amount of non-pecuniary damages has been determined by the courts “in fairness”. Case law shows that the “cost of life” varies according to the courts. According to 2010 data from the specialized site Zastrahovatel.com<\/a> (Insurer), these damages \u201cusually amount to between BGN 25,000 and BGN 30,000. Amounts of BGN 50,000 are rarely awarded, and BGN 70-100,000 in damages are considered a precedent<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n

In June 2018, the Supreme Administrative Court issued a rule which extended the group of persons to whom compensation for non-pecuniary damage is to be paid. As a result, in July and August, the insurers jointly raised the price of the Third Party Liability Insurance by about BGN 50 and put on the table the issue of a ceiling on damage payments of BGN 40,000. They threatened to drastically increase the Civil Liability policy to BGN 800 unless a ceiling on payments is introduced. The Association of Victims of Accidents voiced opposition to this as they believe that the “price of life” should not be set by law.<\/p>\n

Obviously, the aim of the maneuver with the tacit introduction of an important legislative text is to amend the law without a public debate. It is also obvious that Menda Stoyanova’s proposal is more favorable to insurers, as the proposed “cost of life” is twice lower than their most optimistic expectations.<\/p>\n

Here is the text of the proposed changes:<\/p>\n