November 16: The Insurance Board has issued a separate directive for accidental insurance. The board has issued the Accidental Insurance Directive 2078 on Monday, November 15.

The accidental insurance is already in practice in Nepal, but there were no separate guidelines and standards. The insurance companies had been providing coverage for accidental insurance with a separate approval from the board under other policies.

The board has now issued the directive by formulating the necessary criteria in this regard.

Nirmal Adhikari, information officer of the board, said that the directive on accidental insurance has been issued for the first time. "Accidental insurance was already there as an insurance scheme. However, there were no guidelines or criteria to address it. Companies have been covering the topic under various alternative headings. Therefore, we have issued a separate directive. We expect this to facilitate the accidental insurance business,” he said.

The Insurance Board has issued the directive for non-life insurance companies. Now non-life insurance companies will have to deal with such insurance as per the new guidelines.

The board has made arrangements to insure the accident individually and collectively through the directive. People belonging to a certain group can be insured collectively but a separate group cannot be created just for the sake of collective insurance.

The premium for personal accidental insurance of Rs 100,000 has been fixed at Rs 200 per person.

On the collective side, when insuring a group of 25 individuals one has to pay Rs 2 per thousand.

The board has also made a provision not to allow any discount on insurance premiums. However, up to 5 percent discount can be given if the customer goes to the company and insures himself and not through the agent. The guideline states that even while giving such an exemption, such discount cannot be provided in case of the insurance premium for rioting and terrorism.

The board has also implemented a minimum insurance rate for such insurance. When calculating the premium, the service seekers will not be charged less than Rs 100 per policy.