All new insurance contracts or amendments to existing ones must be reviewed by the ICC. Insurance contracts should be worded in Arabic. They could be worded in other foreign languages as well which will be considered the authentic in case of any variances. The Minister of Economy and Trade may exempt some type of contracts from being written in Arabic.

Legal references:
. Insurance Law, article 10
. ICC Guidelines 2288/ICC dated 16/9/2015

• Total sum insured for any insurance contract should not exceed equity without adequate re-insurance coverage.

• All foreign reinsurers must be rated BBB or higher

• All local reinsurers should be rated B or above. The Minister of Economy and Trade may grant the approval for a local insurer rated below B to make reinsurance arrangements for policies with sum insured exceeding its Equity as stipulated under point 3 in the Minister’s Decision number 208 mentioned above.

• All retained sums insured must be lower than the shareholders’ equity.

• The reinsurance slip, together with the following information, should be submitted by insurance companies on a quarterly basis:

  • Insured name
  • Written premiums
  • Ceded premiums
  • Retained premiums
  • Sum insured
  • Treaty type
  • Coverage period
  • Reinsurers’ name
  • Nationality

 Legal references: Ministerial decision number 208 dated 1/8/2001.

First Branch:

• Insurance and re-insurance operations the execution of which is governed by the duration of human life, disablement and old age.

• Insurance and re-insurance operations relating to children and spouse.

• Capitalization operations, with or without life assurance concluded by contracts by virtue of which the company undertake to pay one or several determined sums, on one definite date or several definite dates, or as a result of periodical drawings of lots, as

• is the case with raffle drawings, as counterpart to one periodical premium or premiums.

• Group investment operations -Mutual Funds – by the collection of sums in cash, paid in by subscriber’s non-shareholding, for various investments on a joint basis.

Second Branch:

Operations of insurance and reinsurance against damage resulting from risks of fire, earthquakes, thunderbolts, storms, hurricanes, cyclones, hail-storms, explosions, disturbances, riots, crashes of planes and other aircrafts, as well as all that may follow therefrom or relate thereto according to usage.

Third Branch:

Operations of insurance and re-insurance against damage resulting from transportation risks, the insurance of the body of ships and aircrafts, as well as that may ensue therefrom or relate thereto according to usage.

Fourth Branch:

Insurance and re-insurance operations against damage resulting from all accidents, civil liability, carriages, Labor accidents, personal accidents, medical treatment, hospitalization, theft, breach of trust and professional risks and any other risk not specifically mentioned in the present law.

Fifth branch:

Insurance and re-insurance operations relating to loans, advances, guarantees and all that includes same or stems therefrom according to usage.

Sixth branch:

Insurance and reinsurance operations against damage resulting from agricultural risks and emergencies and all that includes same or stems therefrom.

The insurance policy should include the following documents:

• The general conditions

• The policy specifications schedule

• In life insurance contracts, the application form and the commercial illustration are also part of the policy

When acquiring an insurance policy, it is essential that you do the following:

• Carefully read your policy document

• Give thorough consideration to the clauses and exclusions

• Review your application form and the information provided by you to the insurance company

• Make sure you understand the special provisions

• Read through your policy schedule

Your rights and the rights of your insurer are described in the general conditions document and specified in the policy schedule; you just need to know where to look.

The two sections to find are:

• The “Clauses” section outlining the rules that you and your insurer must follow

• The “Exclusions” section which limit the insurer’s obligations towards you

You also need to understand when and how to file for a claim, in the Claims Handling section.

The policy schedule shows the specifics of your benefits and the details of the premiums and premium payments.

In some cases, particularly in life insurance policies, you may have riders added to your policy. Each rider has its own general conditions document or section, which needs to be included in the policy.
The specifications of each rider should be clearly stipulated on the policy schedule. This includes the details of the benefits and premiums related to this rider.

If you missed the payment of your insurance premium, you will probably still have coverage immediately or shortly after your payment was due. Typically, most insurance policies have a grace period of a certain number of days. Inquire about the grace period that your insurer offers you and negotiate terms of payment to avoid the cancellation of your policy.

The premium you pay to the insurance company is subject to the following taxes, also called stamps and duties:

• Proportional stamps of 5% of the amount of the premium, except for transportation where it is 3%

• Fixed stamps of 2,000 LBP

• Municipality taxes of 6% of the amount of the premium

Premiums related to life insurance covers are only subject to the fixed stamps.

Personal insurance lines help protect individuals from potential losses they could not afford to cover on their own and makes it possible to do things like drive a car and own a home without risking financial hardship or ruin.

Personal insurance lines include mainly:

• Homeowner’s insurance
• Motor insurance
• Health insurance
• Life and disability insurance

These products protect individuals and families against potentially crushing financial losses caused by fire, theft, natural disasters, death, accidents, lawsuits and illness.