On the Relationship between Domestic and International Law: the Case of Sanctions in Insurance Sector
Abstract
The chapter deals with an old theoretical question, once again highlighted by the Ukrainian armed conflict: What is the relationship of domestic and international law? The sanctions connected with this armed conflict showed a new and practical dimension of this question. What to do if the domestic law contradicts the actions requested according to the legal regime of international sanctions? The chapter identifies three such cases from insurance regulation.
Firstly, Czech civil code prevents an insurer from terminating (unit-linked) life insurance. However, unit-linked insurance cannot be provided to sanctioned entities.
Secondly, Czech Motor Third Party Liability Insurance (MTPL) Act obliges an insurer to conclude a MTPL insurance policy. Nonetheless, such policy must not be concluded with certain sanctioned entities.
Thirdly and finally, Czech MTPL Act obliges an insurer to pay out the insurance benefit in case of a car accident regardless of who drove the car or who the victim of the accident was. Nonetheless, if the party damaged by the accident is a sanctioned subject, the benefit must not be paid.
Because the international law takes precedence over particular national rules as envisaged also in the article 10 of Czech Constitution, the chapter asserts that the relationship between Czech domestic law and international law fits best into the theoretical framework of monism with international law primacy. Alternative theories of dualism or monism with domestic law primacy prove less plausible.