Approval clause
The approval clause is a term from insurance contract law . It comes into play if the insurance policy issued by the insurer does not correspond to the application made by the policyholder .
The approval clause is regulated in Section 5 of the Insurance Contract Act (VVG). It assumes that the policyholder agrees that the content of the insurance policy differs from the application. This is a special regulation because, according to general principles, an acceptance that deviates from the application is considered a new offer ( Section 150 (2) BGB), which in turn must first be accepted again. According to the VVG, however, the deviation (fiction of a declaration of acceptance) is considered approved if the policyholder does not object in writing within one month of receipt of the policy. This is one of the exceptional cases of a declaration of intent through silence (acceptance of an offer ).
If the deviation is insignificant and the policyholder is placed more favorably than foreseen in the application, the content of the contract will also take effect if the policyholder has not objected and the change of the contract has been pointed out by the covering insurer, Section 5 VVG.
If the insurer does not indicate the legal consequences or deviations, only the content of the application becomes the contractual basis.
