The idea
The idea of a "Restatement of European Insurance Contract Law" was presented, i. a., on the international symposium "Versicherungsrecht in Europa – Kernperspektiven am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts" in Basle 1998 (see Reichert-Facilides/Schnyder (eds.), Versicherungsrecht in Europa – Kernperspektiven am Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts, 2000). To carry on the work, Fritz Reichert-Facilides (†) obtained a grant awarded by the Austrian Fund of Research (FWF; "Fonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung"), starting April 1999.
At the first workshop in September 1999 in Innsbruck the now existing Project Group came into being. Its first chairman, Fritz Reichert-Facilides (†), was professor at the University of Innsbruck. Since April 2004, Helmut Heiss, the former vice-chairman, took over the chairmanship.
The Project Group closely corresponds with the framework of the "Study Group on a European Civil Code" (Central Bureau: Christian von Bar, Osnabrück). In this context, it has been named "Innsbruck Group". Especially, it cooperates with the Hamburg branch (Jürgen Basedow) of this "Study Group". Besides, the work is based on traditional previous cooperation with the Law Faculty of Zurich University (Anton K. Schnyder).