NEED TO IMPROVE SERBIAN INSURANCE REGULATORY FRAMEWORK BY ADOPTING INSURANCE CONTRACT LAW

          The author tries to answer whether the insurance contract is to be regulated under the Draft Civil Code of Serbia. Relying upon the result of a comparative legal analysis, the author advocates to the adoption of the Insurance Contract Law as one of the most important regulations in the process of harmonization of the Serbian law with that of the European Union. The adoption of a sectorial, special regulation is justified by a few arguments, of which the author highlights the bulkiness of insurance contracts, the peculiarities of the insurance contract compared to the rest of the contract law, the need for adopting an incentive regulatory framework for insurance clients and dynamics of the subject matter. Such a step does not exclude the regulation of insurance contracts under the provisions of the Civil Law. On the contrary, the author advocates for this, but recommends that the legislative technique and the scope of the matter need to be adapted to the twenty-first century and the nature of this significant contract. Namely, the Draft Civil Code needs to achieve two goals: lay the foundations for a new insurance regulatory framework under the Serbian law and strengthen the legal protection of more vulnerable contracting party. This is achievable through imperative and semi-imperative norms, whereas the issues governed by optional norms should remain the subject of a special insurance contract law. The norms of the Civil Code of Serbia should be general and systemic, and, as such, a necessary but not sufficient regulator of the 21st century insurance legal relations. Such norms will be amended, elaborated and particularized under the Insurance Contract Law. The author concludes by a general proposal as to which issues should be governed by this sectorial regulation.

Key words: Insurance Contract Law, Draft Civil Code, Insurance Contract, consumer protection, sectorial approach