The China Insurance Regulatory Commission ("CIRC") has issued the Interim Administrative Measures for the Underwriting and Settlement of Claims of Agricultural Insurance (the "Measures"), which shall take effect as of April 1, 2015 with an implementation period of three years.
The Measures shall be applicable to plant insurance and breeding insurance business, which regulate the underwriting, settlement of claims, assistance in the handling of agricultural insurance business, internal control, and other related key business processes, and raise the requirements such as no less than three days of publicity, insurance documents signed and sealed personally by insurance applicants or the insured, on-site survey within 24 hours, pollution-free disposal serving as the precondition for settlement of claims, payment of insurance indemnities within ten days, etc. The Measures also provide that insurance companies and entities organizing insurance applications shall ensure the right to know and the autonomy of farmers, and shall not cheat or mislead farmers to buy insurance, or force farmers to buy insurance or restrict them from doing so through improper means. No insurance companies and their staff may promise to offer premium rebates except as provided under insurance contracts or other interests to insurance applicants or the insured.