| Gas station owners will pay insurers starting from 2006 The law on compulsory liability insurance for operators of hazardous facilities was yesterday recommended by the State Duma Banking Committee for the first reading, which will take place in December. And already in March 2006 this law can be adopted finally. This was announced by State Duma Deputy Speaker Vladimir Pekhtin and President of the All-Russian Union of Insurers (VSU), State Duma Deputy Alexander Koval.
According to Mr. Koval, with the adoption of this law, 231 thousand production facilities, 26.4 thousand hydraulic structures and 35 thousand gas stations should be covered by compulsory insurance. And the market volume for this type of insurance is estimated by experts at 12-15 billion dollars.
According to the draft law “On compulsory insurance of civil liability for damage caused during the operation of a hazardous facility,” a number of enterprises - from gas stations to oil, gas and coal processing facilities - will be required to insure their liability in amounts from 14.8 million to 1 .7 billion rub. depending on their danger. The average tariff for all types of operated facilities will be 0.25% of the insured amount. Thus, the cost of a policy for a gas station operator for causing harm to third parties will be $500 per year with a maximum amount of insurance compensation of $500 thousand. Payments to individuals will be 300 thousand rubles. (compensation for damage to health) and 180 thousand rubles. (compensation for damage to property). Payments to legal entities - in the amount of the actual value of lost or damaged property.
In anticipation of the law's passage, 23 companies united in July to form the National Union of Liability Insurers. From the moment the law comes into force, membership in the union will be required to participate in this type of insurance. “According to our data, there are approximately 800 insurers operating in the hazardous facilities insurance market, most of them are not able to pay losses up to a certain limit,” says Andrey Tarakanov, head of the hazardous facilities insurance department at Ingosstrakh.
Currently, compulsory liability insurance for operators of hazardous facilities is carried out within the framework of the federal law on industrial safety. According to Mr. Pekhtin, so far the insurance of dangerous objects is essentially nominal and does not cover all damage. The new law, in his opinion, obliges all owners of dangerous objects to insure their civil liability in an adequate amount. “The compulsory insurance of hazardous objects that exists today is of a formal nature, and enterprises have a fairly high rate of depreciation, which is associated with meager investments in this sector of the economy in recent years,” Dmitry Botkin, a member of the board of Kapital SG, agrees with the vice-speaker. “The risk of man-made disasters is quite high, which is confirmed by statistics.”
The potential damage from accidents at hazardous facilities in Russia, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations, amounts to 100 billion rubles. per year. And taking into account indirect damage, this figure may increase to 400-450 billion rubles. According to expert estimates, insurance can cover about 30-40% of damage caused by accidents at hazardous facilities. 80 million Russians, or 55% of the country’s population, live in areas where hazardous facilities are located. According to legislators, the adoption of the bill will solve the problem of compensation for damage caused to the life, health and property of citizens during technical disasters. Gyuzel GUBEYDULLINA |
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