2.1 Introduction
Although all of the Nordic countries have extensive legislation regulating insurance contracts, these acts are not mandatory for marine insurance.(1) See further Trine-Lise Wilhelmsen and Hans Jacob Bull, Handbook on hull insurance, 2 ed. 2017 (Wilhelmsen/Bull 2017) pp. 24–25. Instead, hull and hull-related marine insurance are regulated by an extensive contract which today bears the title Nordic Plan 2013 (NP). This plan is based on the Norwegian Marine Insurance Plan (NMIP or the Plan) 1996 Version 2010, which has a long history. The concepts developed through English court cases and coloured by the history of wars, therefore have a less dramatic history in the Nordic countries, where the Plan was developed through negotiations between all interested parties and influenced by the development of Nordic and continental legislation. However, as will be demonstrated below, the history of war has nonetheless also influenced the development of the Plan. Furthermore, the drafting of the clauses depended heavily on the chairman and secretary of the Plan drafting committees. Whereas UK clauses were developed by distinguished judges, Norway had average adjusters and professors of law.
It should also be noted that the Plan is a standard contract, drafted in a way that has great similarities to legislation.(2) See further Wilhelmsen/Bull 2017 p. 26 ff. See also Hans Jacob Bull, Avtalte standardvilkår som privat lovgivning, Lov, dom og bok. Festskrift til Sjur Brækhus, Oslo, Universitetsforlaget, 1988, pp. 99–114. First, contrary to the situation in England, the Plan is not written by the insurers. The Plan is an agreed document drafted by a committee consisting of participants from all interested parties, i.e. the ship-owners, the insurers, and the average adjusters. Until 2003, Det Norske Veritas (DNV) as a neutral party hosted the amendments and was responsible for the publishing and distribution of the Plan. From 2013, Cefor has taken over this task.(3) Wilhelmsen/Bull 2017 p. 26. Professors from the Faculty of Law have participated in several of the revisions, and from 1964 onwards, a professor from the Scandinavian institute of Maritime Law has always functioned as chairman of the committee, while the secretary has always been a professor or PhD. candidate at the institute.
Second, broad participation in the drafting of the Plan has secured its neutrality and balance. This stands in contrast to many other standard conditions in the marine insurance market, which have been drafted by the insurers without participation by the assureds.(4) Wilhelmsen/Bull 2017 p. 26. See also Wilhelmsen, Planen som Nordisk Plan – forholdet til konkurrerende produkter, særlig engelske vilkår, MarIus 2019 MarIus (sjorettsfondet.no).
A third characteristic feature of the Plan is that it contains a fully comprehensive regulation of all aspects of marine insurance. Both the structure of the Plan and the construction of the individual clauses are more similar to legislation than to ordinary standard contracts.(5) Wilhelmsen/Bull 2017 p. 26.
Fourth, the Plan is supplemented by extensive and published commentaries (the Commentary).(6) All Commentaries to the 1996 Plan are published on Cefor’s website The Plan (nordicplan.org). Some of these are also published as hard copies. The Commentary explains the provisions, the reasons for them and how they should be interpreted. New judgments are discussed and either included in the Commentary, with the acceptance of the committee, or else the provisions are amended if the judgment is not approved by the Committee.(7) See further Trine-Lise Wilhelmsen, Choice of Forum in the Nordic Marine Insurance Plan – Regulation and Practice, MarIus, 2019, no. 515, pp. 72–95. Thus, an understanding of the main marine insurance concepts in the Nordic countries cannot be achieved by studying court cases, but instead by studying the development of the clauses in the Plan, which may be a result of court cases, but most often are not.
A fifth feature is the dynamic aspect of the Plan. In order to ensure that the Plan is continually updated, a Revision Committee was established after the amendment of the Plan in 1996.(8) Wilhelmsen/Bull p. 30. The purpose of this establishment was to make supplementary conditions superfluous. A similar permanent Revision Committee was established after the 2010 revision of the NMIP, with the task of drafting and publishing the Nordic Plan in 2013.(9)agreement-nordic-plan-03-11-2010---amended-09-12-2016.pdf (cefor.no) This committee was also responsible for the 2016, 2019 and 2023 amendments of NP 2013 and will ensure the future ongoing maintenance and updating of the Plan every fourth year.
In the following, a brief overview of the history of the Plan is provided as a background for the presentation of the different concepts outlined in 1 above. The main point of this is to connect the history of the Plan to the history of war and other factors influencing the development of the Plan, and also to present the main drafters.