Request for a preliminary ruling from the Landgericht Erfurt (Germany) lodged on 18 January 2022 – XXX v Helvetia schweizerische Lebensversicherungs-AG

(Case C-41/22)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Landgericht Erfurt

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: XXX

Defendant: Helvetia schweizerische Lebensversicherungs-AG

Questions referred

Does EU law, in particular Article 15(1) of the Second Life Assurance Directive, ¹ Article 31 of the Third Life Assurance Directive ² and Article 35(1) of Directive 2002/83/EC, ³ read where appropriate in the light of Article 38 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, preclude national legislation or case-law under which a policyholder – who has legitimately exercised his or her right of cancellation – is required to bear the burden of demonstration and proof for the purpose of quantifying the benefits of use derived by the insurer itself? Where such an imposition of the burden of demonstration and proof is permissible, does EU law, especially the principle of effectiveness, require that the policyholder enjoy, in return, rights to information or some other assistance from the insurer that will enable him or her to enforce his or her rights?

Is an insurer which provided the policyholder with no information or only incorrect information on his or her right of cancellation prohibited from relying on forfeiture, abuse of rights or lapse of time to prevent the exercise of the policyholder’s resultant rights, including the right of cancellation?

Is an insurer which provided the policyholder with no consumer information or only incomplete or incorrect consumer information prohibited from relying on forfeiture, abuse of rights or lapse of time to prevent the exercise of the policyholder’s resultant rights, including the right of cancellation?

____________

¹     Council Directive 90/619/EEC of 8 November 1990 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to direct life assurance, laying down provisions to facilitate the effective exercise of freedom to provide services and amending Directive 79/267/EEC (OJ 1990 L 330, p. 50).

¹     Council Directive 92/96/EEC of 10 November 1992 on the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provisions relating to direct life assurance and amending Directives 79/267/EEC and 90/619/EEC (third life assurance Directive) (OJ 1992 L 360, p. 1).

¹     Directive 2002/83/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 5 November 2002 concerning life assurance (OJ 2002 L 345, p. 1).