Intermediaries, chatbots and Datassur records: termination, wrong information and the insurance blacklist

In short

When changing insurer, you can leave the cancellation of the old policy to the new insurer or intermediary. They cannot refuse, and they must make sure the new contract starts on time (art. 85/1 §3; consumer contracts).

If the intermediary did not carry out your cancellation instruction, you can claim the extra premium from it as damages. Intermediaries must carry professional liability insurance.

The insurer’s chatbot is the insurer’s own communication channel. In the first cases brought to the Ombudsman, insurers accepted responsibility for chatbots that gave wrong information.

Screenshots and transcripts of the conversation are evidence; a consumer can use any type of evidence against a business (Civil Code art. 8.11).

A record in Datassur’s RSR file is kept for 3 years for unpaid premiums and 5 years for other reasons. You have the right to see and correct it; after that you can turn to the Ombudsman and the Data Protection Authority.

If you cannot find compulsory motor insurance, you can apply to the Tariff Bureau within 2 months after three refusals.

My intermediary did not cancel my old policy and I paid two premiums for the same risk: can I get the money back?

In most cases, yes. But who you recover the money from depends on why the cancellation was not made and whether your instruction was in writing. The Ombudsman’s 2025 report names this situation explicitly: “The intermediary sometimes forgets to cancel an old contract while a new contract is already running.”

How is a policy cancelled?

Form: registered mail, bailiff’s notice, delivery against receipt, or a qualified e-signature in the digital environment offered by the insurer (art. 84). An ordinary e-mail is generally not enough.
Timing: at least 2 months before the annual renewal date (art. 85). If you are a consumer with a tacitly renewable non-life contract, you can cancel at any time after the first year with 2 months’ notice (art. 85/1 §2; contracts concluded or renewed after 1.10.2024).
The new insurer or intermediary can cancel on your behalf: they cannot refuse this request, and they must make sure the new contract starts no later than the end of the notice period (art. 85/1 §3). The same right applies when you change insurer by objecting to renewal at the annual date. The Assuralia “termination letters convention”, which most insurers have joined, also allows the termination letter to be sent by e-mail when changing insurer.
In Belgium, “Easy Switch” is the procedure for changing fixed internet and TV operator (BIPT; Royal Decree 6.9.2016). There is no scheme of that name for insurance; the insurance equivalent is art. 85/1 §3, which works on the same logic: the new provider has the old contract cancelled on your behalf.

Who can you claim from?

Broker (courtier): as a rule, your agent. Failing to carry out your cancellation instruction is a breach of contract (on the duty to inform and advise, see Cass. 16.3.2018, C.17.0200.F). The courts hold liable a broker who does not carry out the formalities entrusted to it in time and effectively (Liège Court of Appeal 30.8.2007, 2005/RG/1171; 7.5.2019, 2016/RG/867). The damage you can claim is the extra premium paid for the overlapping period and costs.
Your own share: in the Liège decision of 7.5.2019 the broker had done nothing at all; but because the clients never asked what was happening even though they had signed no documents and paid no premium, 50% of the loss was left with them. If you received two premium notices and said nothing for a long time, compensation may be reduced in the same way.
Tied agent: the insurer is fully liable for every act and omission of its tied agent relating to the conduct of business rules (art. 293 §1).
The intermediary’s insurance: every intermediary must have professional liability insurance (art. 266, 4°). From the first policy renewal after 9.10.2024, the minimum is €1,564,610 per claim (EU Regulation 2024/896).
The insurers: if the old contract was not validly cancelled, the old insurer is, as a rule, entitled to the premium. However, in a case of forgotten double insurance, the Ombudsman sought a fair solution, noting that “this double insurance makes one of the insurers bear almost no risk”, and treated the refund of the extra premium as recovery of an undue payment (répétition de l’indu) subject to the 10-year limitation period (2024 report). Two policies for the same risk are not prohibited; in a claim, the two insurers share the cost between themselves (art. 99).

In practice: cancel the old policy now; premium for the period after cancellation is refunded within 30 days (art. 73). Ask the intermediary for a written explanation. Write first to the intermediary’s and the insurer’s complaints services, then go to the Ombudsman; the Ombudsman also deals with complaints against intermediaries. Check the intermediary’s category (broker, agent, sub-agent) in the FSMA register; it determines who is liable. Time limits:

Against the insurer, for claims under the insurance contract: 3 years (art. 88 §1).
Direct claim against the intermediary’s professional liability insurer (art. 150): 5 years from the event causing the damage; if you prove you only learned of your right later, it runs from then, but not beyond 10 years from the event (art. 88 §2). Interrupting the limitation period against the intermediary also interrupts it against its insurer (art. 89 §4).
A claim against the intermediary itself arises from the intermediation (mandate) contract, not from the insurance contract. Art. 88 only covers actions “arising from the insurance contract”; on its wording, the general 10-year period applies (former Civil Code art. 2262bis §1). The Insurance Ombudsman likewise states that the 3-year period covers only claims arising from an insurance contract and that the general 10-year period applies between the consumer and the intermediary (2022 report). No Court of Cassation decision rules on this point directly; the safest course is to act within 3 years.

The insurer’s chatbot told me my policy covered a loss, and now the insurer says there is an exclusion

What the chatbot says is the insurer’s own statement; the insurer cannot escape responsibility by saying “software said it”. According to the Ombudsman’s 2025 report, in the first cases where AI chatbots gave wrong information, insurers “assumed responsibility for their virtual agents” and a solution was found for the consumer. Even so, a wrong chatbot answer does not automatically remove an exclusion in the policy. The outcome depends on what you did in reliance on the answer and the loss that resulted.

Legal grounds:

Insurance distributors must give their customers information that is “correct, clear and not misleading” (art. 279 §2). Contributing to claims handling is also a distribution activity (art. 5).
An unclear clause is read in your favour (art. 23 §2). If the insurer’s own tool understood a clause differently, that suggests the clause is not clear.
You do not have to declare circumstances the insurer knows (art. 58). Information you gave the chatbot may count as information given to the insurer.
Misleading commercial practices towards consumers are prohibited (CDE VI.93 ff.).

Depending on your situation:

You took out the policy based on the chatbot’s answer: this is a pre-contractual information failure. You can claim your loss from the insurer. Check whether the insurance product information document (IPID) listed this exclusion among the “main exclusions” (art. 284).
You asked about your existing policy and spent money on that basis (e.g. you authorised a repair): if the exclusion is unclear, ask for the interpretation in your favour. If it is clear, claim the costs you incurred in reliance on the wrong information as damages.
Does the chatbot’s answer change the policy? As a rule, no. A policy is only amended by agreement of both parties, and an information answer is not an offer in that sense. The insurer’s liability therefore arises through damages: the pre-contractual duty to inform (Civil Code art. 5.16-5.17) and the duty to perform the contract in good faith (art. 5.73; for contracts concluded before 1.1.2023, former art. 1134 and 1382). Since the chatbot is not a separate person, there is no need to rely on apparent authority (mandat apparent): the chatbot speaks for the insurer itself. No Belgian court decision on this has been published yet. In Canada, a consumer tribunal held an airline liable on the same reasoning for wrong information from its chatbot (2024 BCCRT 149); that decision is not a precedent in Belgium.

New rules:

EU AI Act, art. 50 (from 2.8.2026): an AI system that interacts with people must make clear that it is an AI. The “Digital Omnibus” adopted in July 2026 (EU Regulation 2026/1744) postponed the high-risk deadlines but did not change the date of this obligation. This is a transparency rule; it does not say whether the answer is binding.
From 14.8.2026, in distance contracts for financial services (including insurance) with consumers, where the business uses online tools the consumer has the right “to request and obtain human intervention”. The right applies at the pre-contractual stage and “in justified cases after the conclusion of the distance contract”, in the language used for the pre-contractual information (CDE VI.60 §3, Act of 19.7.2026, art. 19). If you doubt a chatbot’s answer, ask in writing to speak to a person.

Evidence: Book 8 of the Civil Code has applied since 1.11.2020. A consumer can prove a claim against a business by any type of evidence (art. 8.11). Screenshots and a downloaded transcript can be used; the court assesses their value. Keep the date, time, page address and policy number of the conversation. Ask the insurer for a copy of the chat log under GDPR art. 15; the insurer must, as a rule, reply within one month (GDPR art. 12(3)).

In practice: send the insurer’s complaints service the chatbot’s answer together with a description of your loss. If the claim is refused, the insurer must give a reasoned answer within 3 months (refused claim guide). If that does not resolve it, go to the Ombudsman.

A Datassur/RSR record stops me getting insurance: can I find out about it and have it removed?

Yes. You can find out the reason for the record and how long it will be kept, and ask for an inaccurate or disproportionate record to be corrected or deleted. You apply to Datassur first; if that fails, you can go to the Insurance Ombudsman and the Data Protection Authority (Autorité de protection des données, APD / Gegevensbeschermingsautoriteit, GBA).

What is the RSR? It is the “special risks” file (risques spéciaux) managed by Datassur. It covers motor, fire, accident and miscellaneous insurance. According to Datassur, the grounds for registration are: a policy terminated for specific reasons (in particular non-payment of premium), serious or numerous claims, refusal of a policy because of a false declaration, and proven insurance fraud. At the end of 2024 the file contained 331,426 people. Of the 125,354 new records in 2024, 123,247 were for unpaid premiums, 903 for frequent claims and 273 for fraud (minister’s written answer to Parliament, QRVA 56 027).

Retention: a record for unpaid premium or excess is kept for 3 years, other records for 5 years, and then deleted automatically. According to Datassur, every natural person registered automatically receives an information letter. An insurer may not take an automated decision based solely on the RSR.

Access and correction:

Write to Datassur (Service Fichiers, Boulevard du Roi Albert II 19, 1210 Brussels) or use the form on its website, with a copy of your ID. Datassur must tell you what is recorded within 30 days at the latest (GDPR art. 15).
Ask for correction or deletion (GDPR art. 16, 17, 21). Datassur reports the outcome within one month; the decision is based on the documents of the insurer that made the record.
Examples of unjustified records: you had already paid the premium; the formal notice was irregular (it must be sent by registered letter or bailiff and give at least 15 days, art. 69-70), so the termination and therefore the record have no basis; a “frequent claims” record is based on claims where you were not at fault; a fraud record rests on an unproven suspicion. According to the Ombudsman, “subjective suspicions must not lead to disproportionate sanctions”. The Ombudsman’s 2024 report notes that some insurers delete the record as soon as the debt is paid, while others keep it even after payment; and registering someone because of a termination at the policy’s expiry date is not allowed under Datassur’s own guidelines. To terminate for fraud, the insurer must have filed a complaint as a civil party or brought the matter directly before the criminal court (art. 86 §1).

Where to appeal:

Ombudsman: acts as the appeal body for disputes with Datassur; it only steps in if a correction request to Datassur has failed (procedural rules; art. 322 §2/1, in the Act since 3.1.2026). It is free. In 2024 it received 110 complaints about Datassur, 62% concerning records for unpaid premiums. Of the 38 files examined and closed, a solution was found for the consumer in 23 (61%) (2024 report).
APD/GBA: examines complaints about records free of charge (rue de la Presse 35, 1000 Brussels). Test-Achats filed a complaint with the APD against Datassur on 16.2.2026; the outcome is not yet known.

If you cannot find insurance:

Compulsory motor insurance (RC auto): if at least three insurers have refused you, or offered a premium more than 5 times their lowest premium or an excess more than 3 times that lowest premium, apply to the Tariff Bureau (Bureau de tarification) within 2 months of the refusal or offer. The Bureau sets the terms within 1 month (Act of 1989, art. 9bis-9quinquies).
There is a separate Tariff Bureau for natural disaster cover (art. 131). There is no general bureau for home fire or family liability insurance; ask a broker to approach different insurers.
If an insurer does not respond to your proposal form with an offer, an enquiry or a refusal within 30 days, it is obliged to conclude the contract (art. 57 §1).

Checklist

Did I give my cancellation instruction to the new insurer or intermediary in writing? Do I have a copy?
Have I now cancelled the old policy and asked for the premium after cancellation to be refunded?
Have I checked the intermediary’s category in the FSMA register?
Have I kept the chatbot transcript, date and page address? Have I asked the insurer for the chat log?
Are the receipts for costs I incurred relying on the chatbot ready?
Have I asked Datassur for the content, reason and date of my RSR record?
If the record is wrong, have I sent a correction request to Datassur? If that fails: Ombudsman and APD.
For RC auto, have I collected three refusals? Have I diarised the 2-month Tariff Bureau deadline?

Sources

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Current as of 09.10.2026.