The AIDA World Congress takes place every four years, the previous one having been in Paris in 2010 and the next one, after Rome, to be in Rio in 2018. It is one of the major gatherings of those interested in insurance law which takes place regularly although at four year intervals.
The Programme in Rome had five plenary sessions as well as meetings of all the AIDA Working Parties; the latter meetings were open to all delegates attending the conference. The topics for the plenary sessions were Transparency, On Line Insurance, Discrimination, Preventive Measures and Arbitration and Insurance. As it had been outlined in the programme, which can be found on the AIDA Italian Chapter's website - http://www.aida2014.it/, there were prominent speakers reflecting a wide knowledge of insurance law in the industry as well as a wide geographical spread: Arbitration and Insurance, chaired by the experienced Italian arbitrator Piero Bernardini and inter alia here four distinguished speakers partcipated on the panel, Osvaldo, Contreras Strauch from Chile, co-founder of the recently established ARIAS Latin America (ARIAS LatAm), Professor Marcel Fontaine, a senior figure in arbitration thought, Vicki Roberts, the President of the Federation of Defense and Corporate Counsel who is In-House Counsel for Meadowbrook Insurance Group and has much practical experience in arbitration/mediation and Sir Bernard Rix, recently retired Lord Justice of Appeal in England and Wales. Turning to Discrimination, a very hot topic, the experienced Chairman, Birgit Kuschke from South Africa with a distinguished panel looked at the issues relating to discrimination which are vexing the industry particularly in light of recent judgments by courts such as that by the European Court relating to motor insurance.
All Working Parties met in Rome - as outlined also in the Programme - and these, in themselves, were exciting events with distinguished speakers and presenters, leading to stimulating discussion and thought. Looking at these issues and having discussions on them, were speakers from a wide jurisdiction – Australia, Colombia, South Africa and USA.
AIDA Europe also had a session at the World Congress and the topic discussed was “What is Insurance?”. This session was chaired by the experienced chairman of topics at past AIDA Europe Conferences, Professor Herman Cousy. One of the participants on the panel was the Vice Chairman of AIDA Europe, innovative thinker and presenter, Jerome Kullmann.
More details on the conference can be found on the website - http://www.aida2014.it/.
