Compulsory liability insurance

Which types of insurance are treated as compulsory and what losses do they cover?

• Most compulsory insurance is third-party liability insurance. This covers the damage and losses which those engaged in the specific insurable activity may cause. Some occupations entail activities for which this type of insurance must be taken out, such as the healthcare professions.
• Sometimes the compulsory insurance is accident or sickness insurance. It may be healthcare insurance for those engaged in a given activity or, for example, those participating in competitive sports.
• Other types include contingency insurance, which covers the performance of some activity, and damage insurance, such as fire insurance, which covers certain facilities.

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The compulsory insurance register

In Spain, the compulsory insurance register contains information on compulsory insurance.

This register exists purely for information purposes and is constantly updated.

Search it, leaving all search fields blank, to see a full list of the compulsory insurance policies currently taken out.

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Information available on the RSO

The register incorporates a search engine which will search for the following parameters:

• Registration number and name of compulsory insurance.
• Geographical scope of the compulsory insurance requirement: nationwide or autonomous community.
• The provision imposing the requirement, identifying the articles governing insurance.
• The reference of the official publication in which the provision was made known.
• The national classification of economic activities (CNAE code) for the activity for which insurance is required, as per CNAE 2009.
• The insured object.
• The minimum quantitative limits of the compulsory insurance.
• Who has the status of policyholder and insured person.
• Whether alternative insurance cover is available and, if so, which.

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Who is responsible for keeping the RSO?

The relevant bodies of the central government or autonomous communities forward the information to the Directorate-General of Insurance and Pension Funds.

The Insurance Compensation Consortium is legally the keeper of the RSO. It receives the information and analyses it prior to entry, to check whether it is complete and free of material or factual errors. If so, it is published on the RSO.

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Who has access to the RSO?

The information on the register is public and accessible to any interested party.

The RSO website is located at the CSS web portal .

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Cases of wilful damage

In these cases, the current rules ( Article 19 of the Law on the insurance contract of 8 October 1980) require the insurer to pay benefit, unless the claim was caused by bad faith on the part of the insured.

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