Albania Insurance Information

CIA link to demographic/economic data on Albania

General Albania Insurance Information

• Compulsory Insurance:
  Third Party Automobile Liability.
• Non-Admitted Insurance:
  Prohibited except for Marine and Aviation. Special arrangements can be made for large risks or where local capacity is insufficient.
• Policy Wordings & Rates / Tariffs Controlled:
  No tariffs. Insurers are no longer required to obtain supervisory approval for policy wordings or rating tariffs. There are restrictions on the use of foreign wordings or broker’s manuscripted wordings; however, these can be put to the supervisory authorities for approval.
• Policy Language:
  Albanian is mostly used but foreign languages may be used with approval. 
• Types of Insurance Restricted to Government Institutions:
• Policy Currency:
  lek (ALL) note: the plural of lek is leke
• Currency Restrictions / Exchange Controls:
  Foreign exchange may be carried out by all commercial banks.
• Policy Period:
• Cancellation Provisions:
  30 days’ notice by either party.
• Premium Taxes, etc. paid by Insured:
  Motor = 0.5% vehicle registration office levy;
  Personal Pension Funds, Guarantee Fund levy = 0.5% of contributions
• Premium Taxes, etc. paid by Insurer:
  All non-life policies - fire service levy = 1%
• Insurance Companies:
  Foreign insurers are able to establish branches and agencies.
• Brokers:
• Brokerage Commissions:
  Negotiable but the trend is for net premiums and negotiated fees.
• Broker of Record Letters:
• Reinsurance:
  To our knowledge there are no professional reinsurance companies in Hungary. A number of insurers, particularly those controlled from Vienna, are reinsured under parent company facilities.
• Local Natural Hazards:
  Earthquake hazard highest along the coastal area and in the northern part of the country. Flood risk is highest in the low-lying areas in the north and west portions of the country. The entire country is subject to summer hail.
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Property Insurance

• Fire:
  FLEXA - riot, pillaging, acts of dismissed workers are usually excluded but can be reintroduced for additional premium. Most multinationals’ coverage mirrors Western practice than has be tradition in Hungary.
• All Risk:
• Coinsurance:
• Blanket Insurance:
• Business Interruption:
  Except with larger industrial / commercial risks BI is usually not purchased unless part of a hotel package.
• Replacement Cost:
• Discount for fire protection equipment / systems:

Boiler & Machinery / Machinery Breakdown / Engineering

• Wordings:

General / Public Liability

• Comments:
  Products liability policies are only written for exporters and are always subject to international facultative reinsurance support. Public liability policies are based on London market wordings. Policies are written on both a claims made basis and a losses occurring basis.

Automobile / Motor

• Comments:
  Compulsory motor third party liability insurance was introduced in 1992. The property damage limit is US$50,000 per vehicle and the bodily injury limit is US$200,000 per person.

Workers’ Compensation

• Comments:
  Statutory coverage is provided by the social security system.

Marine

• Available Wordings:
  Marine hull consists entirely of P&I policies. Insurers have been unable to obtain reinsurance for hull risks, all of which are either uninsured or written in the Greek or Italian markets.
  Marine Cargo: almost all imports are dispatched on a CIF basis. About 75% of exports are sent to Greece or Italy and are transported by road or ferry. Albanian truckers accept no liability for goods in their care, custody or control. Exports are mostly dispatched on a FOB basis and insurance is arranged by the customer abroad.

Crime

• Available Coverages:
  Burglary is provided always by a separate policy but there is little interest in purchasing the coverage.