The holidays are dragging on… but the notice periods for my company’s insurance contracts are fast approaching…

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Publié le 02/09/2025

𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑇𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟, ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘.

# 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟏: 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐝, 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐞, 𝐝𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧: 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧?

🗓️ The notice period refers to the time between notification of termination and the actual end of the contract. For its professional insurance contracts, your company must pay attention to:

• the duration of the contract, which can be freely determined by the parties: a few months or a few years;
• the expiry date, the date on which the contract can end;
• the termination of the contract, which is most often, but not necessarily, subject to a notice period that is set out in the contract. Generally, this is done at the annual expiry date, with two months’ notice (Art. L. 113-12 of the Insurance Code) in accordance with certain formalities (Article L. 113-14 of the same Code). However, the length of this notice period is not mandatory.

⚠️ Unlike personal insurance policies, there is no legal obligation for the insurer to send a reminder: it is up to the company to remain vigilant. This is particularly important in France, where the vast majority of contracts are renewed by tacit agreement (70% on 31 December), meaning that any cancellation must comply with the notice period.

⏳ It is therefore essential to comply with the notice period, as this means:

• avoiding automatic renewal without the possibility of renegotiation
• anticipating your company’s insurance needs
• preventing gaps in coverage or contractual increases in premiums

# 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟐: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲’𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭

🤝 The notice period for cancellation is a freely negotiable element (if the insurer agrees) of your insurance contract: its duration is therefore flexible.

🔀 It may be asymmetrical: with different durations for the insurer and the insured/policyholder.

🔄 It may be renegotiated between the parties during the term of the contract.

📑 Termination itself, beyond the notice period, may be subject, for example in a multi-year contract, to contractually agreed conditions (e.g. reaching a threshold in terms of amount or number of claims).

# 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟑: 𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲’𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭

🇫🇷 The termination of an insurance contract, and the notice period that may precede it, are the result of the French practice of tacit renewal of contracts

🇬🇧 The Anglo-Saxon practice is that of fixed-term contracts, which are not tacitly renewed.

⏳ The increasing sophistication of contracts, or the tightening of conditions imposed by insurers, sometimes leads to negotiations lasting beyond the notice period. Another common practice is therefore to remove the notice period at the end of the contract.

🕵️‍♂️ As in all cases of renegotiation of the notice period, the insured/policyholder is advised to negotiate this directly with their insurer. It may happen that the intermediary in charge of this negotiation is caught in a conflict of interest and is reluctant to waive the notice period.

🔁 The end of the insurance contract may therefore also mean a change of intermediary, and thus the end of their right to commission on the contract.

# 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟒: 𝐍𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐨𝐝𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐬 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐧𝐲’𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭

📃 Some companies enter into a service agreement with their insurance broker that is separate from the insurance contract (to which the broker is not a party).

🤝 The main job of the broker, as an insurance intermediary, is to negotiate the terms of their client’s insurance contract. It is therefore important, in the interests of the insured company, that it is free to consult brokers on the market before they, or a single broker selected by the insured, negotiate the insurance contract.

⏰ It is therefore necessary, in the interest of the insured, that the brokerage agreement between the broker and the insured expires (or can be terminated by the insured) within a sufficient period of time to be able to consult other brokers; in practice, at least six months before the expiry of the insurance contract, or even longer.

❌ If this date cannot be negotiated, and the expiry dates of the insurance contract and the brokerage agreement coincide, then the notice period for terminating the brokerage agreement should, in our opinion, be reduced to zero, so that the insured party is not bound by a brokerage agreement without the insurance contracts having been signed beforehand.

# 𝐄𝐩𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝟓: 𝐑𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻… 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆’𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴…

𝐹𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑠, 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑇𝑢𝑒𝑠𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟, ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑙𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑑 𝑚𝑖𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑠 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑘.

🗓️ Before the start of the new school year, a final reminder about notice periods and expiry dates for your company’s insurance contracts.

🤝 It should be noted that these two elements are freely determined by the parties (if the insurer allows it).

🔄 One contractual practice is to renegotiate the contract in advance, without waiting for the expiry date.

🎯 This can have two advantages:

• For the insured party, it can sometimes mean more attractive contractual terms (for example, if the insurer anticipates a fall in market prices and allows a customer to benefit from this ‘in advance’).
• For the intermediary and the insurer, it can cut the ground from under the feet of potential competitors who are waiting for the contract expiry date to submit attractive offers to their preferred prospects.