CSIO releases legal advisory report on electronic delivery of pink slips

The Toronto-based Centre for Study of Insurance Operations (CSIO) has released a new legal advisory report to support the broker channel in adopting eSlips, electronic proof of auto insurance in place of traditional paper pink slips.

Commissioned by Fasken Martineau LLP, the report, titled eSlips: E-Delivery of Motor Vehicle Insurance Liability Cards, provides an overview of legislation requiring pink slips, describes case studies from jurisdictions that have permitted eSlips, and identifies opportunities for legislative change in Canada. “eSlips would eliminate the need for traditional paper pink slips, representing a significant step forward in workflow efficiency for the insurance industry and meeting the expectations of today’s evolving customer,” CSIO said on its website.

Industry benefits of eSlips include significant cost savings on printing and mailing insurance documents. Additionally, updated legislation could potentially permit consumers to store and display eSlips on their electronic devices instead of carrying a paper copy, CSIO said in a press release on Monday.

The CSIO noted that insurance legislation in Canada still requires, in many jurisdictions, that insurers print and mail a paper pink slip as proof of auto insurance and that consumers use pink slips as proof of coverage. Currently, pink slips are required in Alberta, Ontario, the Maritimes, Nunavut, Yukon and Northwest Territories.

“Facilitating change to this more than 50-year-old regime lies largely with provincial regulators, without the need for statutory amendment,” the report said. “The relevant legislation in each province and territory using the pink card does not itself expressly require that the insurance card be in paper form, and the legislation defers to the regulator to set the form of the card. In our view, provincial and territorial insurance regulators could therefore permit the use of electronic images of insurance cards to suffice.”

The report concludes that “while the pink card regime has existed in Canada for decades, it is clear that this paper-based system needs to be modernized.”

Catherine Smola, president and CEO of CSIO, said in the release that “consumer demand for paperless solutions has evolved much more quickly than government regulations in many areas and eSlips is one such area. eSlips are a natural extension of CSIO’s eDocs and eDelivery solutions, and will enable the broker channel to overcome a significant obstacle in adopting technologies that reduce costs and improve the customer experience.”