Hong Kong Ordinances

MERCHANT SHIPPING (LOCAL VESSELS) ORDINANCE - SECT 23G

Supplementary provisions relating to duty of insurers under section 23F

(1) No sum shall be payable by an authorized insurer under section  23F (1) in
respect of any judgment—

   (a)  unless before or within 7 days after the commencement of the
        proceedings in which the judgment was given, the authorized insurer
        had notice of the bringing of the proceedings; or

   (b)  so long as execution on the judgment is stayed pending an appeal.

(2) No sum shall be payable by an authorized insurer under section  23F (1) in
connection with any liability, if—

   (a)  before the happening of the event which was the cause of the death or
        bodily injury giving rise to the liability, the policy of insurance
        was cancelled by mutual consent or by virtue of any provision
        contained in the policy; and

   (b)  either—

        (i)    before the happening of the event, the policy was surrendered
               to the authorized insurer or the policy holder made a statutory
               declaration stating that the policy had been lost or destroyed;
               or

        (ii)   after the happening of the event, but before the expiration of
               a period of 14 days from the taking effect of the cancellation
               of the policy, the policy was surrendered to the
               authorized insurer or the policy holder made such a statutory
               declaration.

(3) Subject to subsection (4), no sum shall be payable by an
authorized insurer under section 23F if in an action commenced before, or
within 3 months after, the commencement of the proceedings in which the
judgment was given, he has obtained a declaration that—

   (a)  apart from any provision contained in the policy, he is entitled to
        avoid it on the ground that it was obtained by—

        (i)    the non-disclosure of a material fact; or

        (ii)   a representation of fact which was false in a material
               particular; or

   (b)  if he has avoided the policy of insurance on the ground described in
        paragraph (a)(i) or (ii), he was entitled so to do apart from any
        provision contained in it.

(4) An authorized insurer who has obtained a declaration referred to in
subsection (3) shall not thereby become entitled to the benefit of that
subsection as respects any judgment obtained in proceedings commenced before
the commencement of that action unless he complies with the requirement
specified in subsection (5).

(5) The requirement referred to in subsection (4) is that before or within 7
days after the commencement of that action, the authorized  insurer—

   (a)  has given notice of the action to the person who is the plaintiff in
        the proceedings; and

   (b)  has specified in the notice the non-disclosure or false representation
        on which he proposes to rely.

(6) Any person to whom notice of an action is given under subsection (5) shall
be entitled, if he thinks fit, to be made a party to the action.

(7) In this section, “material” (具關鍵性) means of such a nature as
to influence the judgment of a prudent insurer in determining whether he will
take the risk, and, if so, at what premium and on what conditions. (Part VA
added 24 of 2005 s. 9) “material” (具關鍵性)