Important notices

In effecting this contract of insurance Arthur J. Gallagher & Co (Aus) Limited is or will be acting under a binding authority granted to it by the insurer. Arthur J. Gallagher & Co (Aus) Limited will be effecting the contract of insurance as agents of the insurer and not for you as the insured.  It is important that you assess the suitability of this insurance in light of your particular circumstances and needs before proceeding with inception of the policy.

When answering the insurer’s questions:

• take reasonable care to make sure your answers are true, honest, up to date and complete in all respects. You may breach the duty if you answer without any care as to its truth or if you only guess or suspect the truth. If in doubt, pause the application and obtain the true facts before answering; and
• if another person is answering for you, the insurer will treat their answers as yours. In such a case you should check the questions have been answered correctly on your behalf by them.

If you do not take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to the insurer, the insurer may cancel your contract, or deny or reduce the amount the insurer will pay you for a claim, in accordance with the insurer’s rights at law.

If you are unsure about your duties to the insurer or you need additional assistance, contact your broker.

You do not need to tell the Insurer anything that

• reduces the risk the Insurer insures you for;
• is common knowledge; or
• the Insurer knows or should know as an insurer;
• the Insurer waived your duty to tell it about

If you do not tell the Insurer anything you are required to, the Insurer may cancel your contract or reduce the amount it will pay you if you make a claim, or both.

If your failure to tell the Insurer is fraudulent, the Insurer may refuse to pay a claim and treat the contract as if it never existed.

If you are in doubt about whether or not a particular matter should be disclosed, please contact your Gallagher broker.

You must make sure you explain the Duty of Disclosure or Duty not to misrepresent to any person you represent when we arrange any insurance cover for you. Alternatively, you may ask any person you represent to contact us and we will explain their Duty of Disclosure or Duty not to misrepresent to them directly.

Every contract of insurance is subject to the doctrine of utmost good faith which requires that the parties to the contract should act toward each other honestly and fairly. Failure to do so on your part may prejudice any claim or the continuation of cover provided by Insurers.

It is important that you advise Gallagher of any material changes to your business or products such as alteration of risk, changes in location, mergers and acquisitions, or any new or changes in activities (including overseas) which may have a bearing on the adequacy of your insurance.

If you have any queries as to what constitutes a material change, please contact your Gallagher broker immediately.

Retail insurance policies can be terminated within the first 14 days without penalty. If you choose to take advantage of this option, the insurance contract will be terminated from inception and the premium will be returned to you in full. You cannot withdraw from the contract if you have made a claim under it.

If a cover is cancelled before the expiry of the period of Insurance, we will refund to you only the net return premium we received from the insurer, less a cancellation fee (if applicable). We will not refund any part of the administration fee we receive for arranging the cover. For your protection, once a certification of insurance has been insured for any policy, a cancellation refund will not be available. If further information is required, please contact us.

To the extent that any material provided about this policy may be considered advice, it does not take into account your objectives, needs or financial situation. You should consider whether the advice is appropriate for you and review any relevant Product Disclosure Statement and policy wording before taking out the insurance policy

Some policies contain an Average/Co-Insurance clause which means that you must insure for the full insurable value of the property insured. If you under-insure, your claim may be reduced in proportion to the amount of the under-insurance.

A simple example, illustrating the basic principle, application and effect of the Average/ Co-Insurance clause is as follows:

• Full (Replacement) Value: $1,000,000
• Sum Insured: $500,000

Therefore you would be self-insured for 50% of the full value.

If the amount of Claim, was say $100,000, the amount payable by Insurers as a result of the application of Average/Co-Insurance would be $50,000 (being 50% of the $100,000).

Some policies contain an Average/Co-Insurance clause which is fully set out in the “Basis of Cover” or “Policy Specification” of the policy. For the types of cover most usually provided, the Average/Co-Insurance calculation is arrived at by applying the Rate of Gross Profit, Revenue or Rentals (as applicable) to the Annual Turnover, Revenue or Rentals (as applicable); these factors first being appropriately adjusted as provided for in the “Trend of Business” or “Other Circumstances” clauses.

If you are in any doubt regarding this clause insofar as it applies to your policy, please contact your Gallagher broker for assistance.

You may prejudice your rights with regard to a claim if, without prior agreement from your Insurers, you make any agreement with a third party that will prevent the Insurer from recovering the loss from that third party, or another party who would be otherwise liable.

Examples of such agreements are the “hold harmless” clauses which are often found in leases, in maintenance or supply contracts and in service/repair contracts. If you are in doubt, please consult your Gallagher broker.

If you require the interest of a party other than the Named Insured to be covered, you MUST request this as most policy conditions will exclude indemnity to other parties (e.g. mortgagees, lessors, principals etc) unless their interest is properly noted on the policy.

When you lease, hire or borrow property, make sure that the contract clearly identifies who is responsible to insure the property. This will help avoid arguments after a loss and ensure that any claims are efficiently processed.

Some property policies automatically covers property you are responsible to insure, subject to the policy deductible. The decision as to who should insure the property is not left to your discretion.

If the responsibility to insure lies with the owner, we recommend you try to ensure the lease or hire conditions waive any rights of recovery against you, even when the damage is due to your negligence. This will prevent the owner’s Insurer making a recovery against you. If there are no lease or hire conditions, you should write to the owner asking who is to insure the property.

Your attention is drawn to the fact that some policies, for example Directors’ & Officers’ Liability, Professional Indemnity and Crime, provide cover on a “claims made” basis which means that claims first advised to you (or made against you) and reported to your insurer during the Period of Insurance are recoverable irrespective of when the incident causing the claim occurred, subject to the provisions of any clause relating to a “retroactive date”.

You should also note that where you give notice in writing to the Insurer of facts that might give rise to a claim against you as soon as is reasonably practicable after you become aware of those facts (but before the insurance cover provided by the contract expires) then the Insurer is not relieved of liability under the contract in respect of the claim, even if that claim is made after the expiry of the Period of Insurance.

In order to ensure that any entitlement under the policy is protected, you must therefore report all incidents that may give rise to a claim against you to the Insurers without delay after such incidents come to your attention and prior to the expiration of the policy period.

Policies that are not underwritten on a “claims made” basis are usually written on an occurrence basis. This means when there is an incident that gives rise to a claim, the policy that responds is the policy that was in force at the time of the incident. For example, if an incident occurred in 2003, but the first notification of any claim is today, then the policy that was purchased in 2003 is the policy that responds, not the current policy.

Cover under your policies terminates on the date already advised to you or as indicated in the Gallagher tax invoice or adjustment note.

Some policies are not renewable contracts. If you wish to effect similar insurance for any subsequent period, it will be necessary for you to complete a new proposal prior to the termination of the current policy so that terms of insurance and quotations can then be developed for your consideration.

To qualify as an eligible insurance contract, a policy must be subject to a terrorism exclusion. Upon an event being deemed a declared terrorism incident by the Government, the Act renders terrorism exclusions inoperative and insureds may lodge claims with their insurers for losses caused by the terrorist incident. Apart from the terrorism exclusion, all other terms and conditions of policies deemed to be eligible insurance contracts remain the same.

Policies which contain an Act of Terrorism exclusion and which are designated an eligible insurance contract in terms of the Terrorism Insurance Act, are generally identified accordingly. Subject to all other terms and conditions of policies so designated, coverage is amended to the extent provided by the Terrorism Insurance Act 2003.

An unauthorised foreign insurer is an insurer that does not directly carry on insurance business in Australia (i.e. they operate overseas only) and thus is not required to be licensed to do so under the Insurance Act 1973 (Cth). Such insurers are not subject to the Act which establishes a system of financial supervision of general insurers in Australia. If one or more of the insurance companies concerned with a particular policy is an unauthorised foreign insurance company Gallagher will notify you of this fact.

If you no longer wish to receive documentation electronically or you require a hard copy of any documentation please advise your Gallagher broker.

The original of your policy wordings have been provided to you or will be passed to you as soon as they are received from Insurers. It is in your own interests to read these documents without delay and advise Gallagher in writing of any aspects which are not clear to you or where any aspect of the cover does not meet with your requirements.

Many areas of insurance are complex and some implications may not be evident to you. Your Gallagher broker will keep you informed, but if at any time you are unsure of any aspect of your insurances, please contact Gallagher to discuss the matter.

We provide your Personal Information to insurers or insurance intermediaries to allow them to determine whether to insure you and if so on what terms.

In facilitating the services outlined in our FSG, we may also need to provide your Personal Information to our outsourced providers. Occasionally this may involve providing your Personal Information to overseas recipients located in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Singapore or India. Prior to disclosing your information to overseas recipients, we will, where required by law, take steps to ensure that the recipient does not breach the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and has sufficient practices and processes to protect your Personal Information.

Our Financial Services Guide (FSG) contains important information to help you decide whether to use the services we offer. It includes details about who we are, the services we can provide, the remuneration we and our representatives receive and our complaints process.

A copy of our FSG can be obtained here.