to the policyholder, the broker may
become liable for damages. The broker
must have liability insurance.
The Act on the Law to be Applied to
Certain Insurance Contracts of Inter-
national Nature (91/1993) contains
provisions on the applicable law, e.g.,
regarding policies where the insured
risk is based in Finland and the insurer
is a foreign company.
Application of a law other than
Finnish law shall not diminish the
rights of a consumer living in Finland,
which he has under mandatory
Finnish laws if the insurance has been
marketed in Finland by the insurance
company or its representative. The FIN-
FSA has issued guidelines regarding
this. According to the guidelines, the
insurance terms and conditions and
other information should be given to the
policyholder in his mother tongue if it is
Finnish or Swedish.
Act is applicable to insurance contracts
with consumers concerning the general
fairness of marketing, distance marketing
and minimum requirements for policy
terms. The distance marketing provisions
are based on the Directive on Distance
Marketing of Financial Services.
The main principles of protection of
privacy in Finland are set out in the Per-
sonal Data Act which accommodates the
EU Data Protection Directive (Directive
95/46/EC). There are special regulations
concerning the processing of personal
data in other laws and acts as well.
The Personal Data Act applies to
processing of personal data in cases
where the controller is established in the
territory of Finland or otherwise subject
to Finnish law. According to the general
good requirements, the Personal Data
Act shall be applied to insurers conduct-
ing insurance activities in Finland on
freedom of services basis. Currently, a
pean Parliament and of the Council on
the protection of individuals with regard
to the processing of personal data and on
the free movement of such data (General
Data Protection Regulation) is pending.
The proposed regulation may result in
new obligations and responsibilities in
respect of data privacy issues (e.g., the
right to data portability).
Another new interesting pending
regulation concerns the ban on gender
based calculations. The proposed legisla-
tion will significantly change the risk
and premium calculations conducted by
insurers. Application of gender-based
calculation in order to determine risks
and the subsequent premiums is no
longer allowed as of December 21, 2012.
Currently, the different treatment of
genders is allowed.