AXA launches policy for German ELD exposures

COLOGNE , Germany—AXA Konzern A.G. , the Cologne, Germany-based unit of AXA S.A., has launched an environmental policy to cover liabilities under Germany's new environmental protection law, the insurer announced.

The environmental law, or Umweltschadensgesetz, was passed in May in order to transpose the European Union's Environmental Liability Directive (2004/35/EC) into German law.

While the law goes into effect in November, German companies can be held liable for environmental damage retroactive to April 30, which was the E.U. deadline for transposition, according to AXA.

AXA's policy, which offers retroactive coverage for environmental claims, is one of the first German polices to be based on the nonbinding insurance model developed by the Berlin-based Gesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft e.V., Germany's insurance association.

The GDV model — officially unveiled at the end of April — was designed to be a basis for German insurers to create products to cover the new exposures under the E.U. directive.