FGAO Update

The Joint Administrators are aware that on 30 December 2021, the French National Assembly passed a bill amending the provisions on the compensation scheme fund for compulsory damage insurance (FGAO).

Under the new legislation, beneficiaries of Dommages-Ouvrage (“DO”) policies in effect on or after 1 July 2018 whose claims arose before the end of the validity of the insurance policy may retroactively benefit from the compensation scheme. It should be noted that according to the French Insurance Code, only beneficiaries who are 'natural persons outside their professional activity' are likely to benefit from the compensation scheme. This compensation will only apply to claims under the mandatory guarantee of DO policies for damage suffered while the insurance policy was in effect.

We remind all policyholders that all French construction insurance policies provided by Elite were ‘disclaimed’ by the Joint Administrators in accordance with Gibraltar Insolvency Act 2011 and Gibraltar Insolvency Rules 2014 with effect from (and including) 15 September 2020 and any policies that were then in effect ceased to be so from that date.

We continue to liaise with our French legal advisers and the FGAO on the matter and are assessing the impact on all DO policyholders. We will provide a further update in due course.