The Financial Services Council (FSC) has released its overhauled Life Insurance Code of Practice for public consultation.

More than 30 significant changes have been made to last year’s original version.

They include banning pressure selling and coercive retention tactics, banning medical disclosure without reasonable grounds, improving consumer understanding of funeral cover and considering individual circumstances of mental health conditions in underwriting.

The code will include plain-language explanations for non-standard terms such as exclusions, and it also features the moratorium on genetics testing in life insurance.

Under the moratorium, all Australians can obtain up to $500,000 of life or total and permanent disability cover without having to disclose an adverse test result. There are also limits of $200,000 for trauma and $4000 a month for income protection.

FSC CEO Sally Loane – who was criticised in September for lacking knowledge of the life insurance code in her appearance before the Hayne royal commission – says every aspect of the life insurance industry is now under the microscope after poor behaviour was exposed in the hearings.

The FSC will hold three public meetings in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney, beginning tomorrow. It will also consult with stakeholders.

The consultation is open until January 12. Chapter one of the code will be implemented from next July and chapter two by 2021.