OREANDA-NEWS. August 20, 2008. IC ROSNO continues payments under the applications received from the aggrieved tourists. In accordance with the explanations provided by the Federal Insurance Supervision Department on the number of issues related to the procedure for compensation of damage under the liability insurance contract concluded with DETOUR, our company decided to continue adhering to the succession principle in insurance compensation payments, the press-centre of ROSNO reported.

In its reply to ROSNO’s letter, FSSN commented that in case of DETOUR "the insurance entity has full discretion in determining how to satisfy the tourists’ claims: whether for the amount of damage confirmed by each respective aggrieved tourist, or for the fixed proportion of the inflicted damage".

The effective legislation regulating tour operators’ liability insurance contemplates no basis for deferment of full payment of insurance compensations to those tourists who apply first, before the total number of aggrieved tourists is determined. According to the Law "On the Principles of Tourist Activities in the RF", tourists can demand insurance compensation from insurers any time within the limitation period. And the pro rata approach to payment of insurance compensations can be applied only after the precise number of aggrieved tourists is determined, which does not seem to be possible before the limitation period expires.

Pursuant to the legal stipulations, IC ROSNO has decided to continue insurance compensation payments to the tourists on a first-come, first served basis. As of August 11, the company has accepted 228 applications, whereby the volume of claimed damages is 24.4 mln. roubles. Payments have already been effected under 29 applications for the total amount of 2.45 mln. roubles. In the coming days, payments will be made under further 8 applications for the total amount of 1.2 mln. roubles.

The insurance company will fully perform its obligations under the contract concluded between ROSNO and the tour operator DETOUR, in therein agreed insurance amount of 10 mln. roubles. The responsibility for indemnification of damage over and above the size of the financial guarantee (insurance contract) shall be borne by the tour operator, the claims to whom may include, along with indemnification of actual losses incurred by the tourists, compensation of lost profit and moral damage.

"We have decided to make payments in a successive manner, instead of waiting till the total number of aggrieved tourists is determined. Otherwise all tourists who could already now present documents for compensation would have to wait three years before it becomes possible to determine the exact proportion. In our opinion, the primary objective for the professional community is to protect interests of all tourists who suffered from DETOUR. And we are ready to take active part in the development of the most efficient ways to solve this issue", Mr. Dmitriy Popov, First Deputy CEO/COO of ROSNO, commented the insurer’s position at the meeting with journalists on August 12.

"The DETOUR situation eloquently demonstrates the importance of liability insurance as a social protection tool and the need for very thorough and consistent examination of all applicable legal provisions. It is critically important for the modern Russian market that our people do not lose trust to insurance arrangements, which has been gradually strengthening recently. To prevent possible occurrence of such situations in the future, ROSNO has proposed VSS to come up with a legislative initiative of raising the liability limit for the insurance contracts of such type. And we hope that the professional community will support our position", noted in his speech Mr. Hannes Chopra, head of Allianz Eurasia and CEO of ROSNO.