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Prediction: France: Beware the two-year limitation period under the French Insurance Code!

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Insurers need to be extremely careful about limitation periods when their policies are subject to French law. Article L.114-1 of the Insurance Code introduces a two-year limitation period for all actions arising from an insurance contract. Article R.112-1 of the Insurance Code requires most policies to indicate the two-year limitation period. This requirement has been extended by the Cour de cassation, which holds that the insurer is required to set out in the insurance contract the two-year limitation period, its starting points, the specific grounds for interrupting the limitation period set out in article L.114-2 of the Insurance Code, and the ordinary grounds for interrupting the limitation period set out in the Civil Code. Insurers must refer in full to the texts of the Insurance Code and the Civil Code, failing which the two-year limitation period will be unenforceable against the insured.