As part of their ongoing review of insurance contract law, the Law Commission and the Scottish Law Commission (the "Commissions") have today published the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Bill (the "Bill").

The Bill focuses on the period prior to the formation of the Insurance contract: Most crucially, it replaces the consumer's duty of utmost good faith with a duty to respond honestly and with reasonable care to questions asked by the insurer. Once the Bill becomes law, it will bring insurance law broadly into line with current Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) practice.

The Bill follows on from the Consultation Paper published by the Commissions in July 2007 on the reform of insurance contract law and the summary of responses relating to consumer insurance published in May 2008.

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