Reform of Liability Insurance

Transcription

1 Progress as at 8 April 2005

2 CONTENTS COMMONWEALTH... 3 NEW SOUTH WALES... 5 VICTORIA... 7 QUEENSLAND... 9 WESTERN AUSTRALIA SOUTH AUSTRALIA TASMANIA AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY NORTHERN TERRITORY Page 2

3 COMMONWEALTH The Taxation Laws Amendment (Structured Settlements and Structured Orders) Act 2002 was enacted on 19 December 2002 to remove tax barriers to structured settlements. The Trade Practices Amendment (Liability for Recreational Services) Act 2002 was enacted on 19 December This Act amends the Trade Practices Act 1974 to allow people to sign waivers and assume the risk of participating in inherently risky recreational activities. The Commonwealth Volunteers Protection Act 2002 was enacted on 24 February This Act exempts Commonwealth volunteers from liability. The Treasury Legislation Amendment (Professional Standards) Act 2004 was enacted on 13 July This Act amends the Trade Practices Act 1974, the Corporations Act 2001 and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 to permit capped liability, supporting state and territory professional standards legislation. The Corporate Law Economic Reform Program (Audit Reform and Corporate Disclosure) Act 2004 was enacted on 30 June Provisions amend the Trade Practices Act 1974, the Corporations Act 2001 and the Australian Securities and Investments Commission Act 2001 to allow proportionate liability for economic loss commenced on 26 July The Trade Practices Amendment (Personal Injuries and Death) Act (No. 2) 2004 was enacted on 13 July This Act ensures that a nationally consistent approach is taken to limitation periods and constraints on damages arising from personal injury or death. These rules will apply to any claim for personal injuries or death brought in the form of an unconscionable conduct claim, a contravention of the product safety and information provisions, a supply by a manufacturer or importer of unsatisfactory consumer goods or a supply by a manufacturer or importer of defective goods. The Trade Practices Amendment (Personal Injuries and Death) Bill 2004 was introduced into the Parliament on 9 December This Bill will prevent individuals, and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, in a representative capacity, from bringing actions for damages for personal injuries or death resulting from contraventions of Division 1 of Part V of the Trade Practices Act The Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer released the Review of the Law of Negligence on 2 October This review was jointly established with the states and territories and reported on a range of issues including: professional negligence; reform of the TPA provisions; limitation periods and reforms to assist not-for-profit organisations; limiting the liability of public authorities; self assumption of risk to override common law principles; proposals to restrict the circumstances in which a person must guard against the negligence of others; and the replacement of joint and several liability with proportionate liability. Page 3

4 The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has released 4 reports which examine claims and premiums associated with public liability and professional indemnity insurance. These reports have been commissioned by the Australian Government to assess the extent to which insurance companies are passing onto consumers the benefits of tort law reforms. The Minister for Revenue and Assistant Treasurer has recently requested that this monitoring continue on an annual basis for a further three years. The Australian Prudential Regulation Authority (APRA) has finalised the collection of the first round of data relating to public liability and professional and medical indemnity insurance as part of the National Claims and Policies Database. The first release of data is expected to occur in May Page 4

5 NEW SOUTH WALES New South Wales enacted the Civil Liability Act 2002 in June This Act introduced: upper limits for non-economic loss ($350,000) and lost earnings (three times New South Wales average weekly earnings); the application of a threshold of 15 per cent impairment in respect of general damages; new interest calculations (10 year bond rate or as determined by regulation) and discount rates (5 per cent unless prescribed by regulation) for damages awards; the abolition of punitive, exemplary and aggravated damages; limits on recovery for gratuitous attendant care; limitations of legal costs claims to the greater of 20 per cent of damages or $10,000 in small claims; penalties for making unmeritorious claims; and provisions enabling costs to be awarded on an indemnity basis for costs incurred after the failure to accept an offer of compromise. The Civil Liability Amendment (Personal Responsibility) Act 2002, which was enacted in November 2002, includes: waivers and voluntary assumption of risk; peer acceptance defence for professionals; establishing a realistic duty of care; protection for volunteers and good Samaritans ; structured settlements; ensures that saying sorry does not represent an admission of guilt; limits claims for nervous shock; drugs and alcohol to be taken into account in assessing negligence; proportionate liability for economic loss; prohibition of damages recovery if injured person engaged in criminal activity; and new limitation periods for personal injury cases. The Civil Liability Amendment Act 2003, which was enacted in December 2003, includes reforms to: preclude a person recovering damages if the loss results from conduct that would have constituted a serious offence if the person had not been suffering from a mental illness at the time; Page 5

6 exclude damages for the cost of rearing a child in proceedings where there is a civil liability for the birth of a child; further limit the circumstances in which a public or other authority or public official is liable for damages in respect of the exercise of public functions; provide for self-defence against the conduct of another person that would have been unlawful except that person had been suffering from a metal illness; confirm that limitations of the Act in respect of a tort also apply to the vicarious liability of another person for that tort; amend the Mental Health Act to exclude police and health care professionals from personal liability for functions exercised under the Act; and amendments to the provisions for proportionate liability for economic loss. New South Wales has restricted the content of legal advertising. It has halved the stamp duty on general insurance, including public liability insurance, to five percent from 1 August New South Wales has provided funding to establish a group buying and risk management facility for not-for-profit bodies. New South Wales enacted its Professional Standards Act in The Professional Standards Act 1994 was amended in 2004 to achieve consistency with the nationally agreed approach to professional standards legislation. Provisions to introduce proportionate liability were included in the Civil Liability (Personal Responsibility) Amendment Act These provisions commenced 1 December Page 6

7 VICTORIA In December 2003 the Victorian Wrongs and Other Acts (Law of Negligence) Act 2003 came into operation. This Act: establishes in statute provisions based on the recommendations of the Review of the Law of Negligence ( the Ipp Report in respect of negligence, duty of care, causation, awareness of risk, negligence of professionals and non-delegable duties; sets out principles applicable in cases of contributory negligence and introduces legal presumptions of contributory negligence when intoxicated; limits recovery in pure mental harm cases; limits liability in tort of a public or other authority; specifies maximum recoverable damages for loss of care provided to dependants and loss of capacity to provide such care; allows counsel and parties to draw to a court's attention damages awarded in other cases; and revises and extends procedures applying to determination of whether a claimant's injury satisfies the threshold requirements for eligibility (should negligence be proved) for awarding of general damages. The Spring 2003 sitting of the Victorian Parliament also passed the Professional Standards Act 2003, which commenced operation on 8 June This Act: provides for the limitation of liability of members of occupational associations in certain circumstances; and facilitates improvement in the standards of services provided by those members. In May 2003 Victoria legislated further reforms, including: implementing a threshold of greater than 5 per cent whole person impairment for access to general damages; implementing proportionate liability for purely economic loss (i.e., excluding death or personal injury); implementing a limitation period of 3 years from date of discoverability, but with this period to be 3 years in the case of minors, reducing to 3 years when they reach 18; and specifying maximum recoverable damages for gratuitous attendant care services. In October 2002, Victoria legislated a range of reforms including: caps on general damages of $371,000 (CPI-indexed); a cap on the loss of earnings of three times average weekly earnings; an increase of the discount rate to five per cent; Page 7

8 the establishment of a special Insurance Commissioner within the Essential Services Commission; provision of waivers to allow people to accept risk; protection of volunteers and good Samaritans ; removing the right to claim damages where the injury was suffered through criminal activity or while under the influence of drugs; and ensuring that saying sorry does not represent an admission of liability. Before the recent improvement in the availability and affordability of commercial public liability and professional indemnity insurance, Victoria acted on a sector by sector basis to assist the most severely disadvantaged groups. Actions included: creating a group insurance scheme for community organisations; providing State indemnities, subject to strict risk management conditions, for certain groups and businesses, including heritage rail and adventure tourism operators, unable to obtain commercial insurance. Most of these groups and businesses have now reverted to commercial insurance, other than heritage and tourist rail operators that are included within the general Government Rail Insurance Program (GRIP); providing a grant of $330,000 to the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV) for the development of risk mitigation activities that are linked to the community group insurance scheme; and providing a grant of $100,000 to adventure tourism operators to assist them prepare risk management plans and audits. Page 8

9 QUEENSLAND The Queensland Parliament passed the Civil Liability Act 2003 on 3 April The new legislation includes the majority of Justice Ipp s recommendations. A summary of the reforms contained in the Act include: a $250,000 cap on general damages and the introduction of an Injury Scale Value (ISV) for the calculation of general damages awards for injuries sustained after 1 December 2002; proportionate liability for non-personal injuries claims but excluding application to a consumer as defined (proclaimed 01/03/05); no liability for failure to warn of obvious risks; no liability for injuries arising from obvious risks in the case of recreational activities; no liability in cases where the injured person was engaged in criminal activity which contributed to the risk of injury. This will mean that where a court determines, on the balance of probabilities, that a person was engaged in a criminal act, the person will not be entitled to claim damages; restricted claims where a person's intoxication contributed to their personal injury. This will involve the mandatory reduction of damages to a claimant who is intoxicated, and removal of any special duty owed to people simply because they are intoxicated; and a change in the standard of care for professional groups, including doctors, to protect against liability for acts performed in accordance with a respected body of professional opinion. The Civil Liability Act 2003 complements Queensland s earlier reforms contained in the Personal Injuries Proceedings Act The Personal Injuries Proceedings Act: requires early notification of claims, adequate timeframes for the defendant/insurers to make a determination on liability and mandatory exchange of information; restricts legal advertising; limits legal costs in small claims; excludes juries from hearing personal injury trials; excludes exemplary, punitive or aggravated damages; and provides for a court to make a consent order for a structured settlement. Queensland s Professional Standards Act 2004 aligns with the national, uniform approach to Professional Standards. The Act will commence on proclamation. Queensland also has: established a liability insurance scheme for not for profit organisations. This scheme has been operational since 1 September Page 9

10 removed stamp duty on public liability insurance premiums for not for profit organisations. developed an interactive website as a practical guide to assist not-for-profit organisations and small business in applying risk management practices to their own activities. Page 10

11 WESTERN AUSTRALIA The Civil Liability Act 2002 was proclaimed on 1 January 2003 and introduced the following: a cap on economic loss to three times the amount of gross average weekly earnings at the date of the damages award; structured settlement to allow periodic payments funded by an annuity or other agreed means; restrictions on advertising of personal injury legal services and touting; a deductible threshold on general damages; and threshold and limits on gratuitous attendant care. The Volunteers (Protection From Liability) Act 2002 commenced on 1 January 2003 and provides volunteers with qualified immunity from civil liability when doing community work for not-for-profit incorporated associations. More details can be found at /Legislation.htm Fire and Emergency Services Legislation Amendment Act 2002 protects volunteer fire units and marine rescue units and their members from civil liability. The Insurance Commission of Western Australia Amendment Act 2002 allows for the establishment of a Community Insurance Fund (CIF) and for the Commission to provide insurance to eligible not-for-profit organisations. Since its inception, the CIF has provided cover to more than 60 organisations including tourist railways, charity events, community festivals, toy libraries and youth clubs that were unable to obtain affordable insurance in the private sector. Further information on this initiative can be obtained at The Civil Liability Amendment Act 2003 commenced on 1 December 2003 (except for the proportionate liability provisions which commenced on 1 December 2004). The Act is intended not only to contribute to containing the current insurance crisis, but also to help to change social and legal attitudes towards the assumption of and liability for risk. The Act addresses the following: general principles of liability for negligence; contributory negligence; damages for mental harm; liability arising from the performance of public functions; protection for good Samaritans ; the effect of apologies; reintroduction of the non-feasance rule to protect roads authorities including local governments; Page 11

12 proportionate liability for economic loss; and voluntary assumption of risk, including allowing for risk warnings and waivers to be effective for recreational activities. The Civil Liability Amendment Act 2004, which was proclaimed to commence on 1 December 2004, gives effect to the introduction of a modified Bolam test for medical professionals. However, announced amendments do not include general duty to warn or inform. This Act also aligns the proportionate liability provisions of the Civil Liability Act 2003 with amendments made to the NSW model. Legislation has been drafted to overhaul limitation periods: 1 In the case of latent injury, cause of action will accrue when the injury first manifested itself, rather than (as at present) when it first occurred. 2 Initial limitation period is to be three years as in every other State. 3 Courts will be given power to extend time beyond the initial three-year period in various circumstances. 4 In the case of children, the ordinary limitation provisions will apply where the child is in the custody of a parent or guardian, with various exceptions. 5 A regime analogous to that applying to children will apply to claims by people with a mental disability. The Professional Standards Act 1997 came into force in 1998 following a Parliamentary Select Committee Report on Professional and Occupational Liability (final report No 3, January 1994). State Cabinet has decided to reinvigorate its professional standards scheme and amend the Act to now make it consistent with New South Wales Professional Standards Act The Professional Standards Amendment Act 2004 has completed passage through State Parliament and was proclaimed to commence on 26 January The Offenders (Legal Action) Act 2000, which limits criminals recovering damages for injuries received while committing a crime. The Government s Public Liability Relief package includes the introduction of a state-wide risk management campaign that has been coordinated and implemented by the Department of Sport and Recreation, in cooperation with the Insurance Commission of WA. Between June and August 2003, a series of free risk management seminars were presented across the metropolitan area as well as in 14 regional locations. These were attended by over 1,500 people. Further information is available at including advice of upcoming risk management seminars. The Small Business Development Commission has also undertaken a campaign, targeting businesses around the State with public liability and occupational safety and health workshops. Western Australia has also developed an interactive website as a practical guide to assist not-for-profit organisations and small business in applying risk management practices to their own activities. A free risk management guideline has also been published. 12,000 copies of the booklet have been distributed. The free risk management guideline and down-loadable spreadsheet can be found at Page 12

13 SOUTH AUSTRALIA The Statutes Amendment (Structured Settlements) Act 2002 permits structured settlements. The Recreational Services (Limitation of Liability) Act 2002 addresses self assumption of risk for high-risk activities. The Wrongs (Liability and Damages for Personal Injury) Amendment Act 2002 includes: the protection of good Samaritans ; caps ($241,500) and thresholds (seven days impairment or $2,750 in medical expenses) for general damages, and a regulated scale of damages related to the severity of injury; caps on economic loss; a ban on interest on damages for non-economic or prospective losses; a 5 per cent discount rate for damages for loss of future earning capacity exclusion of damages for the cost of investing or managing an award; limits on recovery for gratuitous care; limits on who can sue for nervous shock; no damages for those injured while engaged in a serious criminal activity subject to certain protections; intoxication to result in an automatic minimum 25 per cent reduction (or 50 per cent if over 0.15 per cent blood alcohol) when courts are awarding bodily injury damages; reliance on the care and skill of an intoxicated person to result in an automatic 25 per cent (or 50 per cent if over 0.15 per cent blood alcohol) reduction in damages; and protection for expressions of regret. The Volunteers Protection Act 2001 protects volunteers of government and incorporated community organizations from personal liability. SA currently has pre litigation procedures that provide opportunities for settlement of claims in an economical way. The second stage of South Australia s tort law reforms was enacted in the Law Reform (Ipp Recommendations) Act This legislation enacts the key liability recommendations of the Ipp Report, including: providing a defence to a negligence action for doctors and other professionals if they have acted in accordance with a practice widely held by respected practitioners to be a proper practice; removing liability for failure to warn of obvious risks, and providing that, for the purpose of a defence of voluntary assumption of risk, plaintiffs are deemed to be aware of obvious risks unless they can prove otherwise; Page 13

14 in relation to limitation periods making it more difficult to obtain extensions of time beyond the statutory periods and providing for an early notification regime for children s claims; codifying and clarifying the common law in relation to the causation, foreseeability and scope of liability principles of negligence; standard of care for professionals, and contributory negligence; restoration of the highway immunity for road authorities; capping of economic loss in loss of dependency claims; and the Act also extinguishes entitlement to damages for the costs of raising a healthy child in response to the High Court decision in Cattanach v Melchior. The Professional Standards Act 2004 has passed through Parliament. The Act is largely based on the NSW model and enables professional and occupational associations to obtain approval for schemes to cap the liability of their members in instances of negligence involving economic loss or property damage. South Australia s Act has not yet come into force pending national discussions regarding the establishment of a common Professional Standards Council in each jurisdiction. Legislation to adopt proportionate liability in relation to economic loss and property damage claims is currently before Parliament (Contributory Negligence and Apportionment of Liability) Amendment Bill Page 14

15 TASMANIA Tasmania s Civil Liability Amendment Act 2003, which implements the nationally agreed Ipp recommendations, commenced on 4 July In relation to the awarding of damages, which it was agreed should be introduced on the state by state basis, having regard to the particular circumstances in each jurisdiction, the Act provides: no cap for general damages; a cap on earnings of 4.25 times national average weekly earnings; a threshold for non economic loss, in the form of a deductible of $4 000 which tapers out at $20 000; and no restriction on the recovery of legal costs. Tasmania s Limitations Act 1974 was recently amended to include new limitation periods consistent with the recommendations contained in the Ipp Report. As such, damages for personal injury now must be brought within either three years from the date of discoverability, or twelve years commencing on the date of the act or omission which it is alleged resulted in the personal injury or death that is the subject of the action. The introduction of the nationally agreed reforms to the law of negligence is the third phase of the Tasmanian Government s three phased reform approach to deal with the public liability crisis. The first phase of reform included the following measures: assisting with the development of risk management plans for Tasmanian business; eliminating stamp duty on public liability premiums, representing a $1.7 million saving for consumers; introducing the $1 million Public Liability Insurance Facilitation Scheme (PLIFS) to assist community and sporting groups to find affordable public liability cover. The PLIFS has, to date, received around 250 applications and has provided, or agreed to provide, assistance to 154 organisations in meeting increased public liability premiums, with assistance from the Government of around $ ; and working with Local Government to help Tasmanian community groups access the Our Community group buying scheme initiative. The second phase of reforms is contained in the Civil Liability Act The Act includes measures to: ensure that the Courts have the power to order structured settlements, as an alternative to lump sum payouts for future economic loss; restrict the level of damages that may be awarded in cases where use of recreational drugs (including alcohol) by the injured party has contributed to his or her injury; prohibit the recovery of damages if the injured person is engaged in serious criminal activity at the time of injury; and clarify that saying sorry is not to be taken as an admission of legal liability. Page 15

16 The above reforms complement measures already in place in Tasmania which had been identified at the 30 May 2002 Ministerial meeting on public liability insurance as being important in addressing public liability and professional indemnity issues. There is no provision for pre-judgement interest to be awarded by the Supreme Court. Tasmania does not allow damages in respect of gratuitous attendant care. The Civil Liability Amendment (Proportionate Liability) Bill 2004 to amend the Civil Liability Act 2002 was passed by the House of Assembly on 17 November 2004 and by the Legislative Council on 24 March This bill is consistent with the national model agreed at the sixth ministerial meeting. The Professional Standards Bill 2005 was tabled in the House of Assembly on 15 March 2005 and is expected to be debated in the House of Assembly in the week commencing 11 April Amongst other things, the Bill includes provisions to address vicarious liability issues. It is consistent with the national model, although it does permit contracting out. Page 16

17 AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY The ACT has embarked on a three-stage process in response to the insurance crisis. The Civil Law (Wrongs) Act 2002 is the central plank of the first stage. It consolidates and improves existing ACT statutory tort law and introduces the first tranche of ACT tort law reforms. Legislation to give effect to the second stage, the Civil Laws (Wrongs) Bill 2003 has been presented to and passed by the ACT Legislative Assembly. This legislation integrates longer-term national reviews of insurance related tort matters, in which the ACT has been involved, into the Civil Law (Wrongs) Act. Stage two also addresses aspects of medical indemnity. The third stage will address unevenness in the efficiency with which civil claims are managed by further amendments to the Wrongs Act and related laws dealing with civil procedure. Stage three will also pick up national reforms directed at improving access by the profession to professional indemnity insurance. Stage one, the Civil Law (Wrongs) Act 2002, contained the following initiatives: for those who performed essential functions and were most vulnerable, volunteers and good Samaritans, legislative relief in relation to negligence claims against those individuals; for seriously injured claimants whose damages are significant, as an alternative to lump sum payouts, structured settlements. This will ensure that claiming payments will be properly directed towards care and rehabilitation. It will also prevent double-dipping by claimants who fall back on the public health system when lump sum payments are exhausted; for those who were better able to assume responsibility for their own high-risk activities or those within the 99th income percentile, limitations on recovery are applied in the context that it would be more economically efficient for those groups to carry their own accident insurance; on the other hand, for those who choose to act illegally or as a result of self-induced impairment, restrictions on recovery have been imposed; and in addition, the Government believes that there are further market efficiencies to be gained by sponsoring changes to legal processes, insurers record keeping and the flow of litigation. The Act covers these areas and it also provides incentives for lawyers to process cases more efficiently. Stage two, the Civil Law (Wrongs) Amendment Act 2003, encompasses: effective management of claims assessment at the early stages of litigation; early notification and open disclosure; expert witness trial to deal with medical negligence and potentially other classes of negligence; changes to the statute of limitations for personal injury actions; enactment of provisions complementary to the Commonwealth s amendments to the Trade Practices Act 1974; Page 17

18 adoption of a system of no-fault apologies in negligence case, excepting third party motor vehicle, sex discrimination and defamation (dealt with in stage 1) greater certainty in personal injury outcomes, particularly in the case of medical negligence; further measures fostering efficiency in case processing and management; use of various forms of alternative dispute resolution, both before and after proceedings are commenced, use of pre-trial procedures to assist settlement of cases before they get to court; and specific measures dealing with medical negligence, including defences. Stage three, the Civil Law (Wrongs, Proportionate Liability and Professional Standards) Act commenced on 8 March The Act incudes a consumer carve out consistent with s4 of the TPA definition of consumer transactions. It also includes provisions to give Minister the power to approve professional schemes. This Act follows the NSW model and incorporates Victorian provisions on flexible limits of liability. In addition, further legislation is under development to deal with open disclosure in relation to medical incidents, reforms to the court system, the claims processing infrastructure. When passed, this legislation will, inter alia, standardise procedures across all Courts in the ACT. In addition to legislative based reforms, the Government has: developed a web-based risk management site in conjunction with leading community organizations standardised insurance levels for all community organisations that use or occupy ACT Government property under a written agreement; developed a fully integrated on line risk rating, recognition, planning, management and reporting tool for use by ACT Government and the broader Capital Region community; introduced a government wide enterprise wide risk management framework. This framework will be fully integrated with the on line risk technology, so that any the risk component extant for any entity that does business with the ACT Government will be standardised in terms of risk rating, recognition, planning, management, reporting and insurance requirement; introduced a group insurance scheme to the ACT non profit/volunteer community; and conducted a series of widely praised community and small business risk awareness and management seminars in 2003 and 2004, incorporating SME business insurance risk, risk rating, recognition, planning, management and reporting. Demand for the courses has extended into Page 18

19 NORTHERN TERRITORY The Consumer Affairs and Fair Trading (Amendment) Act 2003 complements the Commonwealth's recent amendments to the Trade Practices Act to remove a statutory impediment to the self-assumption of risk by persons undertaking risky recreational activities. The Act commenced on 1 May The Personal Injuries (Liabilities and Damages) Act 2003 includes: a medical impairment model for assessing awards of general damages for non-economic loss, with a 5 per cent threshold and a scaling of awards up to an indexed cap of $ ; a cap on damages for past and future loss of earnings of three times average weekly earnings; limits on the circumstances and amount of damages for gratuitous attendant care; setting prejudgment interest on damages awards at the 10 year Commonwealth bond rate; setting the discount rate for calculating awards for future losses at 5 per cent; prohibiting recovery of damages for those engaged in criminal activity; providing that the use of recreational drugs and alcohol be taken into account when assessing contributory negligence; prohibiting court awards of aggravated or exemplary damages; permitting courts to make orders for structured settlements; protecting community organisation volunteers from being sued for acts done in good faith; protecting 'good Samaritans' who aid a person in need of emergency assistance; and ensuring an expression of regret is not construed as an admission of liability. The Act commenced on 1 May The Personal Injuries (Civil Claims) Act 2003 and the Legal Practitioners Amendment (Costs and Advertising) Act 2003 are designed to reduce the cost of legal proceedings and provide for a greater level of certainty by introducing a process with which claimants are required to comply before legal proceedings can be commenced in a court and by placing realistic limits on legal costs and legal advertising. Both Acts commenced in part on 1 July A working group has been established to progress the remaining Ipp recommendations (those relating to core negligence principles). A package of reforms aimed at improving the cost and availability of professional indemnity insurance have been implemented in the Northern Territory. These include: Page 19

20 the Health Practitioners Act, which commenced in May 2004, requires medical professionals to hold adequate medical indemnity insurance as a condition of registration; the Professional Standards Act was passed in the Legislative Assembly in December 2004 and will become operational on establishment of the national Professional Standards Council; and the Proportionate Liability Act was passed in the Legislative Assembly on 23 March 2005 and is scheduled to commence from 1 May Last reviewed: 8 April 2005 Contact: Pascal Marcelis Page 20