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Section 4 of 6

The General Insurance Code of Practice

The General Insurance Code of Practice is the general insurance industry’s own set of service standards, introduced by the Insurance Council of Australia in 1994 as a voluntary code. It sets standards insurers must meet, such as being open, fair and honest, and timeframes for responding to claims, complaints and requests for information.

General information, not legal advice. The Code is published in full by the Insurance Council of Australia; for breaches, see the Code Governance Committee.

Its standing

A promise made by contract

The current Code came into effect in July 2021 and was updated in October 2021 and October 2023. A redrafted Code went to public consultation in 2026, with submissions taken from 24 June to 21 July. This page reads the Code as the Insurance Council published it on 8 October 2026.

An insurer is bound only once it adopts the Code. By adopting it, the insurer enters into a contract with the Insurance Council to comply. The Code says it does not create legal rights between the insurer and anyone else, that it does not limit your rights under law, and that where it conflicts with a Commonwealth, state or territory law, the law prevails. Insurance Council members offering products the Code covers must subscribe to it, and the Insurance Council publishes the list of subscribers.

General Insurance Code of Practice, part 3: our obligation to you

The Code’s core promise is that the insurer, the people who sell its policies and the suppliers who work on its claims will all be “honest, efficient, fair, transparent and timely” in dealing with you. The rest of the Code sets out how the insurer will keep that promise.

Read plainly

The promise reaches past the insurer’s own staff, to the people who sell its policies and the suppliers who work on its claims.

The Code backs that up: an insurer is in breach if its employees, distributors or service suppliers don’t comply when acting on its behalf.

Its reach

What it covers, and what it leaves out

Covered

General insurance products, apart from the exceptions opposite. The whole Code applies to retail insurance. Several parts, including buying, cancelling, claims and most of complaints, don’t apply to wholesale insurance.

Not covered

  • workers compensation insurance
  • marine insurance
  • medical indemnity insurance
  • motor vehicle injury insurance
  • domestic builders insurance and builders warranty or indemnity insurance
  • reinsurance, life insurance from a life insurer, and health insurance from a registered health insurer

So a home, contents, car or travel policy from an insurer that has adopted the Code is a general insurance product within its reach, unless it falls into one of those exceptions.

Its parts

The Code, part by part

A one-line reading of each part, from the text the Insurance Council publishes.

  1. Part 1ObjectivesHigh service standards, better-informed relations, trust in the industry, fair complaint handling and continuous improvement.
  2. Part 2How the Code worksWho adopts it, which products it covers, and how it sits with the law.
  3. Part 3Our obligation to youHonest, efficient, fair, transparent and timely dealings.
  4. Part 4Standards for insurers and distributorsAppropriate sales, training, and a remedy if poor conduct causes you material harm.
  5. Part 5Standards for service suppliersSuppliers must hold any licence the law requires and say who they act for.
  6. Part 6Buying insurancePlain language, no pressure selling, sum insured calculators for home building, and premium comparisons in some renewal notices.
  7. Part 7Cancelling a policyIf you cancel and are entitled to a refund, it is returned within 15 business days (for a policy arranged through a broker, ask the broker), and written notice comes before cancellation for a missed instalment.
  8. Part 8Making a claimThe claims steps and timeframes, read in full in section 5.
  9. Part 9Customers experiencing vulnerabilityExtra care, support people, and interpreters where practicable.
  10. Part 10Financial hardshipSupport for individuals who owe the insurer money, including an excess. It does not cover paying premiums.
  11. Part 11ComplaintsHow complaints are handled and decided, read in full in section 6.
  12. Part 12Access to informationFree access, on request, to information the insurer relied on for your application, claim or complaint.
  13. Part 13Enforcement and sanctionsThe Code Governance Committee, its powers and its sanctions.
  14. Part 14Promoting and reviewing the CodeA formal review of the Code at least every three years.
  15. Part 15Claims investigation standardsRules for investigators, including interviews and a review after four months.

Who checks

The Code Governance Committee

This committee monitors and enforces the Code. The Code lists the committee’s members as a consumer representative, an industry representative and an independent chair. Anyone can report an alleged breach to the committee, at any time. The Insurance Council points to the committee’s website, insurancecode.org.au, for reports.

For a breach, the committee can require an insurer to take rectification steps, audit its own compliance at its own cost, or advertise a correction. For a significant breach it can go further: require compensation for direct financial loss caused, publish the breach, or require a community benefit payment of up to $100,000. It reports significant breaches or serious misconduct to ASIC.

Reporting a breach is different from resolving your own dispute. The Code points a complaint about your claim or policy to the insurer’s complaints process, and then to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. That path is in section 6.