General Legal Expenses Insurance Conditions (ARB)
The ARB are the general policy conditions for German legal expenses insurance, which since 1994 no longer require regulatory approval and therefore vary considerably between insurers.
Concept
The ARB are the general policy conditions for the legal expenses insurance line. Until 1994, policy conditions for legal expenses insurance had to be approved by the former Federal Insurance Supervisory Office.
Development
The market saw uniform generations of conditions in 1954, 1969, 1975, and 1994. Since deregulation in 1994, insurers have been free to set their own individual conditions, leading to increasing differentiation of coverage in the legal expenses market.
Market Practice
The German Insurance Association continues to issue non-binding model conditions that many insurers use as a reference. For consumers and businesses, however, this diversity of wordings considerably complicates direct comparison between individual legal expenses products.