Appeal to superintendent by insured on adjustment charges

147   If the charges and expenses of adjusting a loss under a policy are in the opinion of the insured unjust and excessive, the insured may refer the matter to the superintendent, who must investigate it and may reduce or increase the amount of the charges and expenses, and the superintendent's decision is final and binding on all parties concerned.

Personal liability protection

148   (1) In this section, "protected individual" means an individual who is or was any of the following:

(a) the superintendent;

(b) an individual acting on behalf of or under the direction of the superintendent.

(2) Subject to subsection (3), no legal proceeding for damages lies or may be commenced or maintained against a protected individual because of anything done or omitted

(a) in the exercise or intended exercise of any power under this Act, or

(b) in the performance or intended performance of any duty under this Act.

(3) Subsection (2) does not apply to a protected individual in relation to anything done or omitted in bad faith.

(4) Subsection (2) does not absolve the BC Financial Services Authority, established under section 2 of the Financial Services Authority Act, from vicarious liability arising out of anything done or omitted by a protected individual for which the Authority would be vicariously liable if this section were not in force.

Power to make regulations

149   (1) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations referred to in section 41 of the Interpretation Act.

(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations as follows:

(a) extending the provisions of this Act or any of them to a system or class of insurance not particularly mentioned in this Act;

(b) defining a word or expression used but not defined in this Act;

(c) prescribing increased benefits or additional beneficiaries required to be included in a contract of insurance;

(d) amending, altering, adding to, or removing any special provisions, definitions and exclusions established in the contract;

(e) respecting an insured's right to rescind a contract of life insurance or accident and sickness insurance, including, without limitation, prescribing

(i) circumstances in which an insured has the right,

(ii) time limits on the exercise of the right,

(iii) exceptions of specified classes of insurance from the right, and

(iv) the obligations of an insurer to refund premiums;

(f) respecting the use of telephonic communications or other means of electronic communications that do not automatically generate a verbatim record of the communications, including, without limitation,

(i) requiring that such communications be concurrently recorded,

(ii) requiring that copies, including transcripts, of such records be provided to the insured or a claimant under a contract, and

(iii) excluding the use of such communications in relation to specified records under this Act;

(g) requiring an insurer to give a claimant notice prior to the expiry of a limitation period under this Act, including, without limitation, prescribing

(i) the content of, and the time and manner of giving, the notice, and

(ii) the consequences of failing to give the notice in accordance with the requirements prescribed under subparagraph (i), which consequences may include, but are not limited to, dispensing with, suspending or extending the limitation period;

(h) exempting any person or class of persons from any of the provisions of this Act;

(i) prescribing circumstances in which the superintendent may suspend or cancel an exemption otherwise applicable to a person under a regulation made under paragraph (h);

(j) generally to make other regulations as may be necessary or advisable to carry out the intent and purpose of the Act;

(k) respecting dispute resolution under section 12, including, without limitation, regulations

(i) prescribing procedures that an umpire must follow in exercising the umpire's powers and performing the umpire's functions and duties under that section,

(ii) requiring an insurer to provide notice to an insured of the availability of the dispute resolution process in prescribed circumstances, and

(iii) prescribing the manner of giving notice for the purposes of subparagraph (ii);

(l) determining and defining classes of insurance for the purposes of this Act.

(3) Without limiting subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may, on the recommendation of the minister responsible for the Homeowner Protection Act, make regulations as follows:

(a) prescribing mandatory conditions that must be contained in a home warranty insurance;

(b) prescribing minimum standards for the coverage to be provided by home warranty insurance, including periods of coverage, the time at which coverage begins and coverage limits;

(c) prescribing permitted exclusions of coverage, waiver, limitations or qualifications under home warranty insurance;

(d) prescribing terms that must not be included in home warranty insurance;

(e) prescribing terms and conditions that apply to insurers with respect to home warranty insurance;

(f) prescribing classes of new homes, renovations and home warranty insurance, and categories of residential builders and residential renovators.

(4) A regulation made under subsection (3) may be made applicable generally or to specific persons, new homes, renovations or home warranty insurance or to a category of persons or class of new homes, renovations or home warranty insurance, and may provide differently for different persons, new homes, renovations or home warranty insurance or for different categories of persons or classes of new homes, renovations or home warranty insurance.

(5) Without limiting subsection (1), the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations as follows:

(a) prescribing mandatory conditions that must be contained in a deposit protection contract;

(b) prescribing permitted exclusions of coverage, waiver, limitations or qualifications under deposit protection contracts;

(c) prescribing terms that must not be included in deposit protection contracts;

(d) prescribing terms and conditions that apply to insurers with respect to deposit protection contracts.

Transitional regulations

150   Without limiting any other provision of this Act, the Lieutenant Governor in Council may make regulations

(a) exempting a contract or a class of contracts, in effect on the date this section comes into force, from the application of any provision of the Insurance Amendment Act, 2009,

(b) postponing, to a specified date after the date a provision of the Insurance Amendment Act, 2009 comes into force, the application of the provision to a contract or a class of contracts, or

(c) applying, for a specified period on and after the date it was amended or repealed by the Insurance Amendment Act, 2009, a provision of this Act, as it read immediately before that date, to a contract or a class of contracts.

Violation of Act an offence

151   An insurer or person who carries on any business contrary to or fails to comply with or violates this Act or a regulation made under it commits an offence against this Act.

Trafficking

152   Any person, other than an insurer or its authorized agent, who advertises, or holds themselves out, as a purchaser of life insurance policies or of benefits under them, or who traffics or trades in life insurance policies for the purpose of procuring the sale, surrender, transfer, assignment, pledge or hypothecation of them to themselves or any person, commits an offence against this Act.

Limitation period

153   Proceedings for an offence under this Act must not be commenced in any court more than 2 years after the facts on which the proceedings are based first come to the knowledge of the superintendent.

Court order to comply

154   If a person is convicted of an offence under this Act, the court in which proceedings in respect of the offence are taken, in addition to any punishment it may impose, may order that person to comply with the provisions of this Act or the regulations for the contravention of which the person has been convicted.

Commencement of revisions to this Act

169   Sections 155 to 157 come into force by regulation of the Lieutenant Governor in Council.