Application of the Proximacause Principle in Loss Insurance According
to the Book of Trade Law and Regulation Number 40 of 2014
Selvi Harvia Santri, Syafriadi and Erlina
Department of business law, Universitas Islam Riau, Pekanbaru, Riau, Indonesia
Keywords:
Insurance, Policy, Proxima cause, Evenement, Compensation.
Abstract:
Companies that accept risk transfer from the insured are insurance companies. Losses suffered by the insured
due to an event must be stated in the policy. Policies that are approved by the insured and insurance companies
must explain the principles of insurance law, one of the important principles in insurance law is Proximacause.
Proximacause is used to measure or assess the liability of an insurance company to provide compensation to the
insured, caused by events experienced by the insured. If the cause or event that causes the loss is not guaranteed
in the policy, compensation costs cannot be paid by the insurer to the insured. Payment of compensation made
by the guarantor is limited only to events that are guaranteed in the policy, if excluded in the policy. policy,
compensation cannot be paid by the guarantor. This paper aims to find out what are the regulations governing
Proximacause and how to apply the Proximacause principle for loss insurance in accordance with Trade Law
and regulation No. 40 of 2014. This paper is based on empirical juridical methods. analyze regulations and
observations in the field.
1 INTRODUCTION
Risk is a danger that threatens humans that can cause
harm (Purba, 1992; Saleh, 1992). Risks can occur due
to human activity factors themselves, can also occur
due to natural disasters, such as floods due to earth-
quakes. According to Prof. Subekti, risk is the obli-
gation to bear losses (Simanjuntak, 1999; Pagliari,
2012).
There are several ways that humans can do to
overcome risk, namely avoiding risk, preventing risk,
transferring risk to insurance companies. Transferring
risk to insurance companies is the best way to manage
risk. The insurance company is the first party to guar-
antee the risk of the insured. The insured has hope
for economic certainty and stability if at any time
something unexpected happens (Suparman, 2003; Li-
akopoulos, 2019).
The second party called the insured, is an individ-
ual, group, institution, legal entity, company or some-
one who follows insurance. The transfer of risk from
the insured to the guarantor can only occur because
of an insurance agreement. The insurance agreement
is stated in a written deed called a policy. The policy
is called an insurance contract between the guarantor
and the insured.
The loss earned by the insured is caused by the
event or event stated in the policy, if the event or event
is not stated in the policy, then the loss cannot be paid
to the insured according to the principle of insurance
law, namely proximacause or the main cause of risk.
The Proximacause principle that is applied to in-
surance can be seen when the insured submits an in-
surance claim (Arquilla, 1993). The insured can claim
the loss suffered by the guarantor by first determin-
ing the cause of the loss. This means that the Insured
can only claim if the loss suffered is caused by a risk
guaranteed by the policy. Guaranteed causes must be
”direct causes”.
2 DISCUSSION
2.1 Regulations Governing the
Proximacause of Loss Insurance
According to the provisions, insurance law regula-
tions are regulated in accordance with Commercial
Law and Number regulation. 40 of 2014. An insur-
ance agreement was made between the Insurer and the
insured. In the Commercial Law Act, the type of in-
surance regulated is the object loss insurance objects
such as fire insurance, motor vehicle insurance, while
Santri, S., Syafiadi, . and Erlina, .
Application of the Proximacause Principle in Loss Insurance According to the Book of Trade Law and Regulation Number 40 of 2014.
DOI: 10.5220/0009128502910294
In Proceedings of the Second International Conference on Social, Economy, Education and Humanity (ICoSEEH 2019) - Sustainable Development in Developing Country for Facing Industrial
Revolution 4.0, pages 291-294
ISBN: 978-989-758-464-0
Copyright
c
2020 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved
291
in Law No. 40 of 2014
1
the type of regulated insur-
ance is insurance for a number of human life object
money.
In addition to regulating the type of insurance,
the Commercial Law Act also regulates insurance
principles, including the Insurable Interest Principle,
the Principle of Compensation, the Most Good Good
Principle, Contributing Principle, Subrogation Princi-
ple, Proximacause Principle. The main direct cause is
the active main cause. (stand-alone).
The direct cause is not the first or last cause, but
the dominant cause or efficient cause, if there is a di-
rect relationship between cause and effect.The rules
governing proximacause are Article 246 of the com-
mercial law code
2.2 Application of the Proximacause
Principle to Loss Insurance
The principle of proximal cause in insurance is called
the proximate cause. the application of the principle
of proximate causes Often causes disputes due to er-
rors in the interpretation of the cause of the loss. In
insurance policies always listed what causes are guar-
anteed. This statement implies that the company will
pay compensation for the loss of the insured object if
the loss arises due to one of the guaranteed reasons.
Before the insured can claim the loss suffered
from the insurer must first be determined what the
cause of the loss. This means that the Insured can
claim only if the losses suffered are caused by a risk
guaranteed by the policy. The guaranteed cause must
be a ”proximate cause”. Causation that brings an ef-
fect without intervention is something else that works
actively and that comes from a new and independent
source.
In the practice of insurance, it is sometimes very
difficult to establish an event that is considered as the
most dominant or most efficient cause of loss, be-
cause frequent events are not single events, but are
a series of events that are interrelated so that there is
often controversy and debate in determining the main
events that cause losses.
For example, the occurrence of hurricanes with
fires, which are not related, but there are two types of
losses, due to fires and due to hurricanes. For exam-
ple, other events or event fires that occur when there
are riots, each of which is not related as a solution:
1. If two losses cannot be separated, and both are not
excluded in the policy, guaranteed.
1
The Commercial Law Act Law No 40 of 2014 concern-
ing Business Asuransian
2. If one is excluded and the loss cannot be sepa-
rated, it is not guaranteed. If it can be separated,
only those who are not excluded are guaranteed
insurance.
2.3 Principle of Principles in Insurance
Law
2.3.1 Principles of Proximacause
Events that cause guaranteed losses in the policy can-
not be disturbed. the guaranteed loss is only the loss
suffered until the cause has just begun to work. Losses
suffered after unsafe risks cannot be claimed.
Solving problems in applying the principle of di-
rect causes in special circumstances, often requires
the help of determination by experts or related pro-
fessionals, such as professional surveyors and other
insurance law experts.
Insurance provides guarantees for losses caused
by certain risks insured or in other words the existence
of an insurance agreement raises the obligation for
insurance companies to provide compensation if the
insured suffers losses. However, in reality we often
have difficulty in determining the cause that causes
this loss, because we often encounter causes for more
than one loss, which may be a series of events that
occur together.
This principle is related to a causal relationship, to
determine what causes this loss and what causes it to
be guaranteed by an insurance policy. The purpose of
the Proximacause principle is that the insurance com-
pany will be responsible for the loss suffered by the
insured if the loss is indeed the responsibility of the
insurance company. If not, then the insurance com-
pany can be exempt from the obligation to pay com-
pensation. Accordingly, based on this reason, the loss
borne by the guarantor arises, but not all causes are
borne by the guarantor. Although the policy with the
All Risk clause, that is, the policy, bears all risks, it
does not mean that all risks are guaranteed because
there are always exceptions.
2.3.2 Insurable Interest
Insured interests give a person the right to insure be-
cause of the financial relationship recognized by law
between that person and the insured object. Insur-
able Interest Definition: ”Legal rights for insurance
of financial relationships recognized by law, between
the insured and the subject of insurance” means that
a person’s right to insure arises from a financial rela-
tionship that is recognized by law between that person
and the object of insurance.
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Furthermore, in the Criminal Procedure Code
there are provisions governing insured interests ”If a
person is responsible for himself, or someone insured
by a third party, at the time the insured does not have
an interest in the insured object, the guarantor is not
required to pay compensation. With so, the insured
must be able to prove that he has an insurable interest
because if he does not have an interest in the insured
object, there will be no compensation.
2.3.3 Principle of Utmost Good Faith
The principle of honesty is to provide information by
the insured to the insurance company regarding all in-
formation when negotiating the making of an insur-
ance agreement. Liability of the insured must be done
from the beginning of the application or during the in-
surance period. If the insured party intentionally or
unintentionally hides information that is relevant to
the object insured, then the insurance company can
cancel the insurance agreement.
The best and honest intention must also be with
the guarantor, that is, when the insurance is done, the
insurance company must inform and explain the ex-
tent of the guarantee and the rights of the insured be-
cause the insured is the guarantor. The definition of
utmosgoodfaith in Article 251 (Santri, 2019) of the
Indonesian Criminal Code is as follows: Any infor-
mation that is false or incorrect, or everything that
does not tell the things that are known by the guar-
antor, no matter what his intentions are, that way, so
that if the insurer already knows the actual situation,
the agreement will not be closed with the same condi-
tions, resulting in the cancellation of the agreement.
2.3.4 Principles of Indemnity
The function of insurance is to divert or share the
risks that are likely to be suffered or faced by the
insured because there is an uncertain event. There-
fore, the amount of compensation received by the in-
sured must be balanced with the loss he suffered, this
is the essence of the principle of indemnity From the
definition of Article 246 KUHD, the insurance agree-
ment (loss) is a compensation agreement or indemnity
agreement. Insurance in this case is a loss insurance
that only replaces the losses actually suffered by the
insured, the principle of compensation (indemnity) is
a mechanism for paying compensation with money,
which in a sense includes several things:
1. Financial changes
2. Place the insured’s financial position the same as
its financial position just before the loss occurs
(Riau, ).
2.3.5 Subrogation Principle
Article 1365
2
of the Civil Code states as follows:
”Every act violates the law, which requires the per-
son who caused the wrong to issue the loss, compen-
sates for the loss”. In the implementation of insurance
agreements, the possibility of a loss occurring can be
caused by a third party. Literally based on Article
1365 of the Civil Code above, then if the insured has
received compensation from the insurer, it is also per-
missible to claim compensation to the party causing
the loss, meaning the insured can receive compen-
sation that exceeds the loss suffered. But the prob-
lem is different in the insurance agreement because it
must be remembered that the insurance agreement is
not like a normal or general agreement, and to avoid
this in the insurance agreement the subrograsi princi-
ple applies where this principle is an integral part of
the principle of indemnity which is essentially that the
insured cannot obtain compensation in excess of the
losses suffered.
2.3.6 Principle of Contribution
This principle actually supports the principle of sub-
rogation, the principle of this contribution arises when
over an object is insured more than from an insur-
ance company, then if a guaranteed loss occurs and
one insurance company has paid the full loss then the
right to claim compensation to another company is
transferred to the company insurance that has paid the
full compensation. The principle of this contribution
is also only valid in the insurance of losses (scadev-
erzekering) and does not apply to insurance amounts
(sommenverzekering) The principle of this contribu-
tion applies or arises when fulfilled the following con-
ditions:
1. There are 2 (two) or more indemnity policies
2. The policies guarantee the same subject matter
3. The policies guarantee the same subject matter
4. The policies cover the same interest
5. The policies cover the same object
6. The policies are valid at the same time, that is,
when the loss occurs
3 CONCLUSIONS
Regulations governing the loss insurance proximate-
cause contained in Law No. 40 of 2014 concern-
2
The Commercial Law Act Law No 40 of 2014 concern-
ing Business Asuransian
Application of the Proximacause Principle in Loss Insurance According to the Book of Trade Law and Regulation Number 40 of 2014
293
ing Insurance and Commercial Law Law Article 246
which states that the guarantor will only pay compen-
sation to the insured if the loss and damage caused by
an event or event is contained in an insurance policy.
The rules governing Proximatecause in the regula-
tions have not been explicitly regulated regarding the
obligations of the parties. Because it is needed, new
regulations specifically regulate Proximatecause. The
application of the Proximatecause principle to loss
insurance starts with an agreement between the in-
sured and the insurance company and is written in an
agreement called a policy. Which guarantees losses
in accordance with the agreed events. The application
of the Proximatecause principle in insurance experi-
ences constraints, sometimes it is very difficult to es-
tablish an event that is considered to be a proximate-
cause which is the most dominant or most efficient
cause of loss, because events often occur that are not a
single event, but a series of interrelated events so that
there is often controversy and debate in determining
the main events that cause harm. So expertise in sur-
vey theory is needed to determine the main causes of
events that cause harm. If the event that caused the
loss is not listed in the policy, the claim is not paid by
the guarantor.
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