Chapter V: Insurance against natural disasters.

Standard clauses applicable to insurance contracts mentioned in article L. 125-1 (first paragraph) of the Insurance Code

a) Purpose of cover:

The purpose of this insurance is to guarantee the insured financial compensation for direct non-insurable material damage to all property covered by the contract, the determining cause of which was the abnormal intensity of a natural agent, when the usual measures to be taken to prevent this damage could not prevent it from occurring or could not be taken.

b) Activation of cover:

Cover can only be invoked after publication in the Journal officiel de la République française of an interministerial order declaring a natural disaster.

c) Scope of cover:

Cover includes the cost of non-insurable direct material damage to property, up to the value set out in the contract and subject to the limits and conditions set out in the contract at the time of the first occurrence of the risk.

d) Excess :

Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, the insured shall retain part of the compensation due after the loss. He may not take out insurance for the portion of the risk constituted by the excess.

For land motor vehicles, whatever their use, the excess is €380 for each damaged vehicle. However, for land motor vehicles used for business purposes, the excess stipulated in the contract will be applied, if this is higher.

For residential property and other non-business property, the excess is set at €380, except for damage caused by differential ground movements due to drought and/or soil rehydration, for which the excess is set at €1,520.

For property used for professional purposes, the amount of the excess is equal to 10% of the amount of direct non-insurable material damage suffered by the insured, per establishment and per event, without being able to be less than a minimum of 1,140 euros; except in the case of damage attributable to differential earth movements resulting from drought and/or the sudden rehydration of the soil, for which this minimum is set at 3,050 euros. However, the excess provided for in the contract will be applied if it is higher than these amounts.

For property other than land motor vehicles, in a commune that does not have a plan for the prevention of foreseeable natural risks for the risk that is the subject of an order declaring a state of natural disaster, the excess is adjusted according to the number of declarations of a state of natural disaster that have been made for the same risk in the five years preceding the date of the new declaration, in accordance with the following procedures:

-first and second determination: deductible applied ;

third declaration: applicable excess doubled; - fourth declaration: applicable excess tripled;

-fourth determination: trebling of the applicable deductible;

-fifth and subsequent findings: quadrupling of the applicable excess.

The provisions of the previous paragraph cease to apply as from the prescription of a plan for the prevention of foreseeable natural risks for the risk which is the subject of the declaration of a state of natural disaster in the municipality concerned. They resume their effects if the aforementioned plan is not approved within four years of the date of the order prescribing the natural risk prevention plan.

e) Obligation of the insured:

The insured must declare to the insurer or its local representative any loss likely to trigger cover as soon as it is known and at the latest within ten days of publication of the interministerial decree declaring a state of natural disaster.

When several insurance policies taken out by the insured may provide compensation for uninsurable direct material damage resulting from the abnormal intensity of a natural agent, the insured must, in the event of a claim and within the period mentioned in the previous paragraph, declare the existence of these insurance policies to the insurers concerned. Within the same time limit, he must declare the claim to the insurer of his choice.

f) Obligation of the insurer :

The insurer must pay the compensation due under the guarantee within three months of the date of submission by the insured of the estimated state of the damaged property or the date of publication of the interministerial decree declaring the state of natural disaster when this is later. Failing this, and except in the case of fortuitous events or force majeure, the compensation due by the insurer shall bear interest at the legal rate from the expiry of this period.