BUJUMBURA March 24th (ABP) – The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance, Budget and Economic Planning, Mrs. Christine Niragira, opened on Tuesday at the Source du Nil Hotel, a three-day workshop to popularize Law No. 1/06 of July 17, 2020 revising Law No. 1/2 of January 7, 2014 on the Insurance Code of Burundi, for lawyers and doctors.
According to Mrs. Niragira, during popularization sessions by the Insurance Regulation and Control Agency of this 2014 law, it turned out that it contained errors and imperfections both in substance and in form. But also, she added, the Constitutional Court declared unconstitutional the retroactive nature of paragraph 2 of article 469 of that code through its adoption in September 18, 2015.
Indeed, that court ruled that this paragraph introduced the retroactivity of articles 124 to 271 of that code and resulted in unequal treatment of cases which should be governed by the same law, thus violating articles 19 and 22 of the Constitution in force at the date of the adoption. Also, certain provisions deserved to be introduced or improved in order to ensure a balance, especially between victims of road accidents or their dependents and insurance companies.
Thus, the revised code, currently being popularized, provided in its article 184 for the establishment of the system of amicable settlement in the case of an accident having caused material damage, indicating that this system is in force since February 3, 2022 and will speed up the compensation procedure. She also pointed out that this new revised code was popularized in 2021 to users of the Insurance Code, in particular insurance companies, executives of insurance brokerage companies, judges of courts and tribunals, representatives of the bars, consumers as well as judicial police officers with a view to its correct and fair application.
Mr. Arcade Niyongabo, member of the ARCA Board of Directors, pointed out that the way certain victims of road traffic accidents must be taken care of as soon as there is an accident has been modified. While before the people in charge of the health facilities first demanded bail, but with the new law, it is imperative to take care of the accident victim so that he/she is saved and to claim something afterwards. The new code also highlights the amicable settlement procedure. It requires that the insurer and the victim must agree before bringing the case before the courts and tribunals. Even if the two parties do not manage to agree, the legislator indicates that it will require a period beyond which, they resort to the courts.