On The Performance Of Policy Based Agricultural Insurers’ Clear Explanation Obligations

The performance of a policy based agricultural insurer’s clearly stated obligation refers to what the insurer actively does to the policyholder in the process of signing a policy based agricultural insurance contract,in order to protect the right to know and the right to choose of policyholders such as farmers,enable them to apply for insurance on the basis of information symmetry,disperse natural and market risks,and ultimately stabilize their agricultural returns,based on the explicit provisions of the Insurance Law,the Agricultural Insurance Regulations,and relevant department regulations,The exemption clause provides for the performance of the obligation to provide information within the scope.The performance of clearly stated obligations by policy based agricultural insurers is a manifestation of clearly stated obligations in the Insurance Law in the field of policy based agricultural insurance contracts.Compared to other commercial insurers or commercial agricultural insurers that explicitly state the performance of their obligations,the specificity of policy agricultural insurers that explicitly state the performance of their obligations is mainly reflected in four aspects:the object of performance,the method of performance,the consequences of non performance,and the subject of performance.At the same time,the specificity of the performance of obligations clearly stated by policy-based agricultural insurers is also reflected in its practical significance: policy-based agricultural insurers clearly stated that the performance of obligations has the function of safeguarding the legitimate rights and interests of policy-based agricultural insurance policyholders and national food security,and promoting the development of policy-based agricultural insurance.At present,taking the "reference application" of the "Agricultural Insurance Regulations" as a bridge,the "Insurance Law" clearly states the relevant rules for the performance of obligations as the center,and the relevant department regulations specifically provide for policy based agricultural insurers to clearly state that the rule system has been formed.However,the system does not take into account the particularity of policy based agricultural insurance,and there are still three legislative deficiencies: the rules on the object of performance do not incorporate the special insurance method of collective insurance for villagers,the substantive performance criteria do not incorporate the particularity of the applicant and the terms,and the consequences of failure to perform are unreasonable.These shortcomings have led to difficulties in ensuring the farmers’ right to know and choose when contracting.To address the above shortcomings,the following legislative improvements are needed: In terms of the object of performance,Article 10 of the "Agricultural Insurance Regulations" should be amended to identify agricultural practitioners who actually pay premiums as policyholders.In terms of performance criteria,the substantive judgment criteria for performance should include an examination of the correlation between exemption clauses and exemption consequences,and add on-site concentration and clear explanation elements to the performance form criteria in the case of collective insurance by villagers.In terms of the consequences of non performance,the "limited interpretation" of the consequences of non performance rule in Article 17 of the Insurance Law is not intended to produce the legal consequences of the clause’s initial invalidity,but rather the legal consequences of the clause’s failure to exempt the insurer from liability.In judicial practice,there are still four dilemmas: the rigid "reference application" path of the identification rules for policyholders,the confusion in identifying the nature of implicit exemption clauses in policy-based agricultural insurance contracts,the emphasis on formal standards in determining the performance of clearly stated obligations,and the controversy over the impact of the performance of prompted obligations on the performance of clearly stated obligations.The following measures should be taken to solve the dilemma: in the case of "collective insurance",it is not appropriate to refer to the provisions of the "Insurance Law" for the applicant,but to apply the indirect agency rules of the "Civil Code" to identify the applicant as a villager conducting collective insurance;The determination path of clearly stating the scope of obligation performance includes consideration of policy objectives to protect agriculture and safeguard farmers’ interests,and introduces the principle of reasonable expectations to comprehensively judge the scope of clearly stating obligation performance;Substantive judgment standards should be adopted for clearly stating the performance of obligations under implicit exemption clauses;The performance of the obligation of explicit presentation is the prerequisite for clearly stating the performance of the obligation.