Detection and Registration System of the Swiss insurance companies (HIS)

According to estimates, Swiss private insurers incur annual losses of up to 10 % of the insurance benefits paid out in motor vehicle, travel, property and liability insurance due to fraudulent claims for benefits. It is ultimately the policyholders that pay for these misappropriated amounts through their premiums. Allianz Suisse wants to counter this abuse and protect the insured community against insurance fraud as far as possible. It is assisted in this by the HIS Detection and Registration System.

Natural persons with a minimum age of 16 years who have fulfilled at least one reason for registration in a claim are registered in HIS. Each person will be informed of their registration in writing by the registering insurance company.

HIS is not an open-access register. Allianz Suisse only learns whether a person is registered if the registered person is involved in a new claim and Allianz Suisse makes an HIS query. It is not permissible for Allianz Suisse to make an HIS query outside of the claims handling processes (e.g. before the insurance policy is taken out).

Allianz Suisse can check at any time in every claim in the insurance sectors of motor vehicle insurance (liability and accidental damage), travel insurance, liability insurance (private and public liability) or property insurance (household contents, buildings and companies) whether there is an entry in HIS for a person involved in the claim. If there is an entry in HIS, Allianz Suisse is shown the data listed under «Personal data», namely the identification data of the person registered and the reason for the registration. If Allianz Suisse receives a corresponding notification from HIS, it can specifically clarify its obligation to pay benefits.

No insurance benefit will be denied based solely on an entry in HIS. HIS merely gives Allianz Suisse a hint to carefully check its obligation to pay benefits in the event of a claim.

Every natural person who is involved in a claim from the insurance sectors of motor vehicle insurance (liability and accidental damage), travel insurance, liability insurance (private and public liability) or property insurance (household contents, buildings and companies) whether as a policyholder, insured person, injured party, authorised representative of a legal entity, service provider or other person, is registered, provided that they fulfil a specific reason for registration. Depending on the reason for registration, it is not just the person who has carried out the act in question that is registered, but also persons who have been involved in it (application by analogy of the criminal roles of accomplice, aider and abettor).

Reasons for registration may relate to the insurance policy or to liability. The reasons for registration in the HIS Detection and Registration System are that irregularities discovered in the settlement of claims justify a reference for the processing of future claims in which the person concerned is involved. The reasons for registration are:

1. Breach of the duty of disclosure (Art. 6 (1) of the Swiss Insurance Policies Act (VVG))
2. Fraudulent retroactive insurance (Art. 10 (2) VVG)
3. Intentionally causing the event covered by the insurance (Art. 14 (1) VVG)
4. Increasing the risk with the policyholder’s involvement (Art. 28 (1) VVG)
5. Contradictory circumstances (Art. 39 VVG) or no evidence of the insured event under insurance contract law (Art. 8 of the Swiss Civil Code (ZGB))
6. Fraudulent grounds for claim (Art. 40 VVG)
7. Fraudulent double/multiple insurance (Art. 46b (3) VVG)
8. Altering the damaged object with fraudulent intent (Art. 38b (2) VVG)
9. No evidence of the event giving rise to liability under liability law (Art. 8 ZGB)
10. Intentional deception when taking out the insurance policy (Art. 28 of the Swiss Code of Obligations)

All entries are automatically erased from HIS seven years after the date of the claim.

A registered person is entitled to have their entry erased if the requirements for registration are not met. A registered person is entitled to have their entry corrected if the registered data is incorrect.

Registered persons may submit their request for erasure and/or correction to Allianz Suisse.

In addition to the insurance companies participating in HIS (including Allianz Suisse), the following two companies are involved in HIS:

• SVV Solution AG operates HIS in Switzerland. SVV Solution AG acts as the party with sole responsibility for the operation of HIS. SVV Solution AG is a service company of the Swiss Insurance Association SVV.
  
• The company informa HIS GmbH, based in Wiesbaden (Germany), is the IT provider (system operator). informa HIS GmbH is considered to be the data processor for SVV Solution AG.

Only address data without first and last names is transmitted to and processed by the IT provider informa HIS GmbH in Germany. Checking the address data for accuracy serves the purpose of quality assurance in the operation of HIS.

The following personal data is processed in HIS:

• First name
  
• Current and previous name
• Current and previous address(es)
• Current and previous telephone number(s)
• Current and previous e-mail address(es)
• Date of birth
• Reason(s) for registration
• Role of the registered person (policyholder, injured party, authorised representative of a legal entity, insured person, service provider, other persons such as motor vehicle driver or person responsible for the damage)
• Claims data: type of claim, claim number, date of claim, insurance sector, date of claim creation in the insurer’s system, location of claim.

Every interested person has a right to information about all the data about them that is contained in HIS: in the context of a self-disclosure, every person can inquire whether they are registered in HIS, whether queries have already been made about them and what personal data is stored about them. Requests for self-disclosure must be sent in writing to the operator of HIS (SVV Solution AG, Conrad-Ferdinand-Meyer-Strasse 14, CH-8022 Zurich), enclosing a copy of an official form of identification (passport, ID card) and stating the postal address for the written reply. In addition, every person is entitled to request Allianz Suisse for information about its processing of personal data.

For reasons of data protection, no information will be provided by telephone as it is not possible to clearly identify a person over the telephone. Applicants must submit the following information for identification purposes:

• Last name and name at birth, if applicable
  
• First name(s)
• Date of birth
• Current postal address (not a P.O. Box address)

The right to object to further processing and the right to erasure, rectification, restriction of processing and data transfer of all of the individual’s own data stored in HIS: if the requirements for registration are not met or if registered data is incorrect, the registered person may file a legal request for erasure or correction with the registering insurance company. If no agreement is reached, the registered person may contact the Ombudsman of Private Insurance and of Suva free of charge or initiate civil proceedings. The aforementioned rights can be asserted with the registering insurance company and/or with SVV Solution AG. Civil proceedings can only be initiated with the competent authority.

For more information on HIS, please visit the following link: dummy www.svv.ch/de/his