The workshop on Insurance Issues from  Legal and Technical View- points organized by the Capital Market Authority made  a number of recommendations on the insurance issues in the Sultanate including constitution of a work team/committee to consider, evaluate and unify the roles of medical boards in all aspects comprising representatives of the Ministry of Health, the Judiciary, CMA, ROP, Ministry of Social Development and Omani Insurance Association.

The workshop also recommended unification of compensation table for disability and injuries and to expand the present disability book on which the medical boards rely to include all available details as well as formation of a committee to draft the amendments to the Motor Vehicle Insurance Law and the Unified Motor Insurance Policy and the appendices. Consider  enhancing the role of courts with regard to traffic cases through enhancement of the divisions hearing such cases in the courts or consider establishment of special court to decide in traffic cases.

The workshop was organized by the Capital Market Authority under the patronage of HE Issa Hamed Al Azri, Undersecretary for the Ministry of Justice. The object of the workshop was to create  communication between the relevant parties and to acquaint with the legislative and technical aspects of the insurance sector in the Sultanate and how to ease procedures which would enhance the performance of the sector.

The workshop discussed a number of examples and issues relating to the insurance community especially the cases referred to courts. Judges, legal advisors and lawyers as well as concerned entities such as Royal Oman Police, medical boards of the Ministry of Health and insurers participated in the workshop which was held at the Intercontinental Hotel.

In the opening of the workshop HE Issa Hamed Al Azri, Undersecretary for the Ministry of Justice confirmed the daily need for insurance among the different segments of the Omani community and its institutions which leads to complexities in responsibilities and liabilities of the parties and the need for solutions for problems arising between insurers, their clients and the parties who suffer damage which results in the need for more advanced provisions and regulations and efforts of the supervisors, regulators and law enforcement institutions.

HE said there is good legislative infrastructure of insurance  in the Sultanate and pointed out that the first legislation was the Insurance Companies Law which was promulgated in Royal Decree No. 12/79 as amended. He added the Sultanate applied compulsory third party insurance  in 1983 and then the Motor Insurance Law was promulgated in Royal Decree No. 34/94 and the Unifies Motor Insurance Policy for both comprehensive and third party was issued in 2008.

HE said the main issue for insurers in Oman is the motor insurance and the claims arising out of traffic accidents which is the biggest segment in insurance cases heard by the courts of all stages. He said the need for such  workshops which bring together professional   in the legal and technical fields will continue.

HE Sheikh Abdullah Salim Al Salmi, Executive President of the Capital Market Authority  gave speech in which he said insurance in its nature is a complicated issue due to intertwined   interests and such nature is clear in the motor insurance because most of the insured are individuals and the issue is cases of claims for financial and physical damage, thus the Omani legislature has enacted  special law for this type of insurance namely Motor Vehicles Insurance Law promulgated in Royal Decree No. 34/94. However,  insurance on the other hand is based on the contribution of the majority in taking the risks of the minority and thereby ensures the insured  getting fair indemnity for the damage they sustain. The role of CMA is to protect the policyholders rights.

Al Salmi said protecting such rights  requires ensuring the soundness , fairness and disambiguation of the contracts. CMA has worked to define the insurance relationship  in the form of standard insurance policies with which the insurers must comply. On the other hand the  protection of such rights requires ensuring the insurers are financially solvent and able to discharge their obligations toward the insured  and accordingly we look at both sides equally.

HE said CMA, to upgrade the level of the services provided by insurance companies , especially with regard to  physical injury compensation, has decided to unify the bases for quantification of disability ratios and this would not be attained unless the efforts of all the concerned parties are combined to reach to agreement.

Al Salmi confirmed that disposition in controversial cases relating to motor insurance, if made by agreement, would save time, efforts and expenses. He expressed his hope that preventive measures, reducing traffic accidents, would be better to avoid their social, economic and psychological consequences to lift the burden on the Ministry of Health and reduce the percentage of physical disability.

The workshop discussed the laws and regulations governing the insurance sector and its economic and social importance and finding solutions for the obstacles, simplifying the procedures through discussion of a number of examples and issues concerning the insurance community in Oman specially the cases referred to courts and the role of medical boards in determining the disability, motor insurance, disposition of controversial cases and the issues of compensation judgments for injuries.