Enactment of (EU) Directive 2023/2673 into Greek law: What’s the impact on policyholders in consumer insurance?

The article was drafted by Kosmas Karanikolas & Xenia Lymperopoulou, Senior Associates for Lexology on October 2, 2026

Introductory remarks

Recently, by virtue of Law 5317/2026, (EU) Directive 2023/2673 (hereinafter, the new Directive), amending the cardinal act of secondary EU legislation on contracts concluded at a distance (hereinafter, distance contracts), i.e., Directive 2011/83, was enacted into Greek law, along with other (EU) Directives relating to the protection of consumers’ interests. Per the standard legislative practice, the newly passed law does not operate as a standalone consumer protection Act, as its provisions enacting the new Directive are introduced as amendments of Law 2251/1994 – widely known as “the Consumer Protection Act” since it accumulates enacted provisions of various (EU) Directives aimed at consumer protection.

The newly inserted provisions reinforce the rights of consumers by extending the application of some of the provisions on distance contracts for services to distance contracts for financial services; the latter had initially been excluded from the scope of application of (EU) Directive 2011/83, since EU legislators had considered the inclusion of financial services contracts in the Directive’s scope of application as unnecessary, due to the existence of numerous sector-specific rules on consumer protection (recital 32 of the Directive 2011/83). However, this approach has been revised in view of the need for attainment of “a consistent level of protection for consumers throughout the Union and [the prevention of] divergences hampering the conclusion of financial services contracts within the internal market” (recital 8 of the new Directive).

The novel provisions enhance, among others, the rights of policyholders in consumer insurance contracts, as insurance falls within the notion of “financial services”, as defined in the Consumer Protection Act. The present article focuses on the additional protection conferred upon policyholders by the novel provisions inserted in the Consumer Protection Act, exploring the actual ambit of the amplification of their rights, after due consideration of the protection already provided by the standing insurance legislation.

Notably, the ensuing analysis concerns policyholders who qualify as “consumers” within the meaning of the Consumer Protection Act, namely persons who take out insurance for purposes being outside the scope of their trade, business or profession; thus, hereinafter any reference to policyholders concerns only policyholders who qualify as consumers.

The enhanced protection conferred upon policyholders is, in essence, structured in two main pillars: a) expansion of the information precontractually given to policyholders; and b) facilitation of the exercise of the right of withdrawal via online withdrawal functions. Evidently, the new provisions introduce further novelties which impact on policyholders’ rights but since the latter are of rather secondary importance, their analysis goes beyond the objective of this article.

Expansion of precontractual information

The novel provision of article 3ιδ of Law 2251/1994 sets out the information that must be precontractually offered in case of conclusion of distance contracts for consumer financial services, including insurance contracts. Notably, albeit the provision enumerates 23 distinct pieces of information that must be tendered in a clear and comprehensible manner to the policyholder before the latter is bound by the distance insurance contract, only 6 of them concern information the provision of which was not already required by other legislative acts while, further, 3 of them constitute rather specifications of information already compulsorily deliverable. In other words, insurance undertakings were already obliged to provide prospective policyholders with most of the information listed in article 3ιδ, since both Law 4364/2016 on the taking up and pursuit of (re)insurance, enacting (EU) Directive 2009/138 (hereinafter, the Solvency II Law), and Law 4583/2018 on the distribution of insurance products, enacting (EU) Directive 2016/97 (hereinafter, the IDD Law) – both laws being collectively referred to as insurance legislation – contain detailed provisions on the information that must be precontractually given to policyholders (articles 150-153 and 27-40, respectively).

Therefore, the scope of the information offered to policyholders prior to the distance insurance contract’s conclusion is only slightly broadened per article 3ιδ. More specifically, in addition to the information already deliverable pursuant to insurance legislation, insurance undertakings are further required to inform prospective policyholders of:

1. The name, address, website and any other contact information of the supervisory Authority on private insurance (the Bank of Greece – BoG) which has granted them their operating license (lit. e’)^[1];
2. If the insurance premium was personalized based on automated decision-making (lit. i’);
3. Any limitations of the period for which the information provided is valid (lit. l’);
4. Any additional costs for the use of the means of distance communication, if such additional cost applies (lit. n’);
5. The language in which the insurance terms and the precontractual information are supplied as well as in which the ensuing communication between the parties will be performed (lit. u’);
6. The existence of a Guarantee Fund or other compensation scheme which will be liable for policyholders’ reimbursement in case of insolvency of the insurance undertaking, if such body exists (lit. w’).

Moreover, the following specifications of information already designated as compulsorily deliverable to prospective policyholders are introduced:

1. Apart from the insurance undertaking’s company name and address, already stipulated as notifiable [pursuant to art. 28 para 2, lit. a’ of the IDD Law and art. 152 para 1, lit. aa), ab) and ac) of the Solvency II Law], the insurance undertaking’s telephone number, email address or other means of communication, as well as its registration number in the General Commercial Registry and/or the Registry of (re)insurance undertakings kept by the BoG must also be provided (lit. b’ and d’);
2. Apart from information as to the withdrawal right, already set as deliverable [pursuant to art. 27 para 3, lit. c’ of the IDD Law and art. 152 para 1, lit. βι) of the Solvency II Law], practical instructions on the exercise of such right must also be provided (lit. s’);
3. Apart from information on the law applicable to the insurance contract, already set as deliverable [pursuant to art. 150 para 1, lit. a) and art. 152 para 1, lit. βιγ) of the Solvency II Law], any contractual clause on the competent court must also be disclosed (lit. t’).

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