About the AAS

The Insurance Ombudsman (AAS) is an independent and impartial body to which citizens and businesses can turn to resolve insurance disputes that arise with insurance companies and intermediaries.

The AAS is a simple, quick, and cheap means of protection: the complaint can be filed without the assistance of a lawyer, is decided within 180 days (extendable only once up to an additional 90 days for particularly complex disputes), and costs 20 euros, which will be returned to the complainant if the complaint is successful.

The complaint is decided by a Panel composed of five members representing the interests of the various parties involved in the dispute. The AAS Technical Secretariat, established at IVASS, manages the procedure but does not participate in decisions.

A complaint to the AAS may be filed only after a claim has been made to the company and/or intermediary, if no response has been received after the 45-day period has elapsed or if an unsatisfactory response has been received. The claim against the company and/or intermediary is a prerequisite for the admissibility of the complaint to the Ombudsman.

The decision of the AAS on the complaint is not legally binding; however, if the undertaking and/or the intermediary does not comply with such decision, its non-compliance is made public on this website for five years, and highlighted on the home page of the undertaking and/or intermediary's website for six months (or displayed at the premises in the absence of a website).

If the client, the undertaking or the intermediary is not satisfied with the AAS's decision, they may submit the dispute to the civil court.

The establishment of the AAS

The AAS has been established in implementation of Article 187.1 of the Private Insurance Code (CAP) which transposed Article 15 of Directive (EU) 2016/97 (Insurance Distribution Directive).

The regulation adopted by the Minister of Enterprises and Made in Italy, jointly with the Minister of Justice, at the proposal of IVASS (Ministerial Decree no. 215 of 6 November 2024), lays down rules on the procedure, criteria for the composition of the deciding body and the nature of the disputes that the AAS may handle.

The regulation gives IVASS the power to issue detailed technical and implementing provisions defining some aspects of the operation of the AAS.