WHAT IS THE INSURANCE ARBITRATION COMMISSION AND WHAT ARE ITS DUTIES?
The Insurance Arbitration Commission is a commission established in 2008 under Article 30 of the Insurance Law No. 5684, under the supervision of the Union of Insurance and Reinsurance Companies. This commission is an institution that attempts to resolve disputes related to clauses in insurance contracts or agreements made between the insured and the insurance company. Its members include one representative from the union, two representatives from the consumer association, and one academic lawyer representative. While this is a brief definition and description of the commission's duties, there are time limits and certain conditions for applying to this commission. To examine these conditions, applications to the Insurance Arbitration Commission are first reviewed by interviewees, and cases that do not reach a resolution are referred to independent insurance arbitrators. For the commission to review a case, the dispute must not have gone to court or to a consumer dispute arbitration board. There are certain conditions for applying to the insurance arbitration commission as a result of a dispute between an insured person and an insurance company, or between a third party and an insurance company. One of these conditions is that the insurance company involved in the incident must be a member of the insurance arbitration commission. Furthermore, another condition is that the applicant must have first applied to the insurance company and received a rejection from the insurance company, or if no response is received within 15 business days, then an application can be made to the insurance arbitration commission. As mentioned above, it should be noted that if an insurance company that is not a member of the insurance arbitration commission applies to the commission to resolve a dispute concerning that company, the commission will not consider it and will only consider disputes concerning insurance companies that are members of the commission. So, what documents are required to apply to the insurance arbitration commission? The answer is as follows:
First, a fully completed application form bearing the applicant's wet signature; a photocopy of the applicant's identity document; a receipt for payment of the application fee determined by the insurance arbitration commission; documentation indicating that an application was initially made to the insurance company and a negative response or no response was received; written documentation regarding the application sent to the insurance company; and, in addition to these, a written document clearly stating what the applicant expects from the commission, using various supporting documents to prove their claim.
FEE FOR APPLYING TO THE COMMISSION
There is a fee for applying to the insurance arbitration commission. This fee is 100 TL for disputes up to 5000 TL, 250 TL for disputes between 5001 and 10,000 TL, 350 TL for disputes between 10,001 and 20,000 TL, and for disputes exceeding 20,001 TL, the fee is at least 350 TL, with the application fee being 1.5% of the dispute amount. In addition to these fees, it is known that, under the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure, the arbitrators in the case may add the costs of the proceedings, thus increasing the amount of the payment.
HOW TO CHECK THE STATUS OF A FILE SUBMITTED TO THE COMMISSION?
We know that after an application regarding a dispute is made to the Insurance Arbitration Commission, the preliminary review of this application is completed by the rapporteurs within 15 days, and then a decision is made on whether or not to refer the application to insurance arbitrators. If referral is decided, the application file is sent to independent arbitrators, who complete their review of the file within 4 months and issue a decision, which is then communicated to the parties to the dispute. So, how can the applicant check the status of their application file submitted to the Insurance Arbitration Commission? The Insurance Arbitration Commission provides the applicant with a password during the application process, and with this password, the applicant can check the status of their file. Those who wish to check their file online can access the application inquiry section on the Insurance Arbitration Commission's website and review their file using the provided password.
Can the Arbitration Commission's decision be appealed?
When examining whether an appeal can be filed against a decision made by the insurance arbitration commission regarding a dispute that has been submitted to the commission, we know that if the dispute is worth 5,000 TL or less, the commission's decision cannot be appealed. For disputes of 5,000 TL and above, an appeal can be filed once within 10 days of the commission's decision being announced. The appeal process involves filling out an appeal application form and paying a fee equal to the application fee. Furthermore, it should be noted that for disputes exceeding 40,000 TL, decisions of the Insurance Arbitration Commission can be appealed to the Supreme Court. Appeals against the commission's decision are reviewed by the arbitration panel, a decision is made within 2 months, and the decision is communicated to the appellants within 3 business days.
(HÜSEYİN DOĞAN)