Lloyd's Maritime and Commercial Law Quarterly
THE NEW AND REVISED INSTITUTE FROZEN FOOD AND FROZEN MEAT CLAUSES
Institute Frozen Food and Frozen Meat Clauses
Introduction
As MacKinnon LJ famously remarked, “The truth is that this law of marine insurance is nothing more than a collection of rules for the construction of the ancient form of policy”.1 The Institute Clauses, as the direct successors to that ancient form of policy, thus play a pivotal role in marine cargo insurance. New and revised Institute Clauses for use with frozen and chilled food (the “Clauses”) were issued by Lloyd’s Market Association on 1 March 2017.2 This note comments on the revisions and some of the potential legal issues arising under the Clauses, which have been updated to take account of the 2009 revisions to the Institute Cargo Clauses3 and to incorporate current trade and insurance practices. The revisions to the Clauses, albeit modest in scope, constitute the most important changes to the standard cover for frozen and chilled food since the revisions of 1982, when the ancient SG Form of Policy was superseded by the Institute Clauses.4
The Clauses now provide four levels of cover for chilled and frozen food.5 Starting with the broadest cover, these are: (1) all risks plus extended cover;6 (2) all risks;7 (3) all risks except variations in temperature plus limited cover for such variations;8 and (4) limited perils, that is (C) perils—major traditional perils at sea.9 There are also specially
1. Middows Ltd v Robertson (1940) 68 Ll L Rep 45 (CA), 63.
2. I am grateful to Lloyd’s Market Association for sight of a drafting note prepared by Clyde & Co LLP describing the revisions to the Clauses but the views expressed here, and any errors, are my own.
3. For a summary of the revisions introduced in 2009, see J Dunt and W Melbourne, “Insuring Cargoes in the New Millennium”, ch.6 of D Rhidian Thomas (ed.), The Modern Law of Marine Insurance Vol.3 (Informa, London, 2009).
4. The Institute Frozen Food and Meat Clauses were revised in 1986 in line with the revisions to the ICC in 1982. For analyses of the 1982 revisions, see R Grime, “Insuring Cargoes in the 1990s”, in D Rhidian Thomas (ed.), The Modern Law of Marine Insurance (LLP, London, 1996) and A George, “The New Institute Cargo Clauses” [1986] LMCLQ 438.
5. In line with what had already been the position for frozen meat, where four levels of cover were available as standard.
6. Frozen/Chilled Food Extension Clauses CL 422.
7. Institute Frozen/Chilled Food Clauses (A) CL 430.
8. Institute Frozen/Chilled Food Clauses (A)—24 Hours Breakdown CL 423.
9. Institute Frozen /Chilled Food Clauses (C) CL 431.
CASE AND COMMENT
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