Epidemic insurance does not cover organizers' losses: "Feels absurd"

Several of Sweden's concert organizers have so-called epidemic cancellation insurance. It should fall out when authorities, in order to avoid the spread of infection, shut down an activity with support in the Protection Act.

The Debaser Club has epidemic insurance to cover canceled concerts, but the insurance does not apply because the government's ban on public gatherings of more than 50 people falls under the Ordinance Act, not under the Infection Protection Act.

- Our insurance company says that we must be closed because of the Infectious Protection Act for the insurance to apply, says Annelie Telford, CEO of Debaser, to the Culture News.

Debaser has taken out insurance with the insurance company Gjensidige that has declined to interview.

" Under this insurance condition, compensation can be paid for outages that arise as a result of the government's intervention with the support of the Infection Protection Act, " the agreement states.

In March, Martin Lagerberg, founder of Fållan and Färgfabriken Evenemang, filed a claim for damages with his insurance company If - and was rejected.

- It feels damn absurd that for years you have paid for epidemic insurance that you cannot then use once an epidemic comes, he says.

Samuel Hedin is product manager at If.

- Our conditions state that there must be an established infection in the premises that is insured. In that case, the insurance can cover breakages in connection with remediation. I am the first to complain that concert venues must remain closed, but in the legal sense no one has banned access to the premises. The sad reality is that it is difficult to insure against global crises like this one, says Samuel Hedin.

Interior Minister Mikael Damberg (S) writes in an e-mail to Culture News that the responsibility lies primarily with the contracting parties:

“It is through the Ordinance Act, not the Infection Protection Act, that the Riksdag has given the government the opportunity to decide rules of the kind in question. The government is well aware that the spread of infection is affecting various actors hard and has also presented several measures to alleviate the financial consequences of the spread. ”