RUST-HACKNER AND OTHERS V NÜRNBERGER VERSICHERUNG AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT ÖSTERREICH AND OTHERS

Joined Cases C-355/18, C-356/18, C-357/18 and C-479/18, Court of Justice of the European Union, 19 December 2019

Insurance (life) – Cooling-off period – Running of time – Effect of insurers failing to provide accurate information as to right of cancellation in cooling-off period – European Parliament and Council Directive 2009/138/EC (Solvency II)

This was a reference from the Austrian courts in four joined cases involving a number of policyholders. Under the Solvency II Directive and its predecessors, member states were required to provide for a cooling-off period of 14 to 30 days during which there was a right to cancel a life policy. The period ran from the time when the policyholder was informed that the contract had been concluded. Before the contract was concluded, the policyholder had to be given information about the cooling-off period. In the present cases the policyholders had been informed that cancellation had to be in writing, but Austrian law did not require writing. A series of questions arose from that error, which the CJEU answered as follows.