UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES, O. Reg. 7/00

• Jurisdiction: Ontario

Insurance Act

ONTARIO REGULATION 7/00

UNFAIR OR DECEPTIVE ACTS OR PRACTICES

Note: This Regulation was revoked on April 1, 2022. (See: O. Reg 208/22, s. 1)

Last amendment: 208/22.

This is the English version of a bilingual regulation.

0.1 (1) In this Regulation,

“affiliated insurer” means an insurer that is considered to be affiliated with another insurer under subsection 414 (3) of the Act; (“assureur du même groupe”)

“credit information” means information about a person’s creditworthiness, including the person’s credit score, credit-based insurance score, credit rating and information about or derived in whole or in part from his or her occupation, previous places of residence, number of dependants, educational or professional qualifications, current or previous places of employment, estimated income, outstanding debt obligations, past debt payment history, cost of living obligations and assets; (“information de crédit”)

“declination grounds” means the grounds on which an insurer is authorized under the Act to decline to issue or to terminate or refuse to renew a contract of automobile insurance or to refuse to provide or continue a coverage or endorsement; (“motifs de refus”)

“prohibited factor” means,

(a) any reason or consideration that, under section 5 of Regulation 664 of the Revised Regulations of Ontario, 1990 (Automobile Insurance), made under the Act, insurers are prohibited from using in the manner described in that section,

(b) any fact or factor that, under section 16 of Regulation 664 of the Revised Regulations of Ontario, 1990, insurers are prohibited from using as elements of a risk classification system, and

(c) any other factor that is an estimate of, a surrogate for or analogous to a prohibited factor referred to in clause (a) or (b); (“critère interdit”)

“prohibited manner” means a manner that is subjective or arbitrary or that bears little or no relationship to the risk to be borne by the insurer. (“manière interdite”) O. Reg. 37/10, s. 1.

(2) References in this Regulation to a form approved by the Chief Executive Officer are deemed to include the last form approved by the Superintendent for the purposes of the relevant provision prior to the day section 22 of Schedule 13 to the Plan for Care and Opportunity Act (Budget Measures), 2018 came into force until the Chief Executive Officer approves a subsequent form for the purposes of this section. O. Reg. 128/19, s. 1.

1. For the purposes of the definition of “unfair or deceptive act or practice” in section 438 of the Act, each of the following actions is prescribed as an unfair or deceptive act or practice:

1. The commission of any act prohibited under the Act or the regulations.

2. Any unfair discrimination between individuals of the same class and of the same expectation of life, in the amount or payment or return of premiums, or rates charged for contracts of life insurance or annuity contracts, or in the dividends or other benefits payable on such contracts or in the terms and conditions of such contracts.

3. Any unfair discrimination in any rate or schedule of rates between risks in Ontario of essentially the same physical hazards in the same territorial classification.

4. Any illustration, circular, memorandum or statement that misrepresents, or by omission is so incomplete that it misrepresents, terms, benefits or advantages of any policy or contract of insurance issued or to be issued.

5. Any false or misleading statement as to the terms, benefits or advantages of any contract or policy of insurance issued or to be issued.

6. Any incomplete comparison of any policy or contract of insurance with that of any other insurer for the purpose of inducing or intending to induce an insured to lapse, forfeit or surrender a policy or contract.

7. Any payment, allowance or gift or any offer to pay, allow or give, directly or indirectly, any money or thing of value as an inducement to any prospective insured to insure.

8. Any charge by a person for a premium allowance or fee other than as stipulated in a contract of insurance upon which a sales commission is payable to the person.

9. Any conduct resulting in unreasonable delay in, or resistance to, the fair adjustment and settlement of claims.

10. Making the issuance or variation of a policy of automobile insurance conditional on the insured having or purchasing another insurance policy.

11. When rating a person or a vehicle as an insurance risk for the purpose of determining the premium payable for a policy of automobile insurance, misclassifying the person or vehicle...