With Sydney Harbour sparkling and the canapes circulating, the launch of the revised General Insurance Code of Practice last week was never going to be short of glitz and gloss.

But the event at the Sydney Opera House was curiously lacking in substance.

In the three official speeches, there was no mention of the sanctions for code breaches, or of what the industry must do to comply.

Only when insuranceNEWS.com.au went digging through the 23-page document with Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) CEO Rob Whelan did we find that while the biggest review in 20 years has no more bite than it had previously, it has nevertheless made some significant advances in areas of consumer assistance.

While there has been some huffing and puffing about the fact that insurers can now be publicly named by a new independent governance committee, that power has in fact been in place for many years.

It has only been applied once, against a very small rogue insurer that shortly after ceased to exist. And even then the “naming and shaming” was buried in an annual report.

It’s also doubtful if there’s much new in the disciplinary powers being mooted as advances in the consumer cause – like enforcing corrective advertising and other remedial measures in set timeframes, especially for claims-handling infractions. But as the old public relations dictum goes, if you haven’t got anything new to sell, dress up what you already have.

“There are some hard measures that companies have to comply with in terms of claims management, but there’s also a lot of philosophical stuff about customer service,” Mr Whelan says.

“So the new code is a combination of both hard and soft measures.”

Insurers must now decide whether to accept or deny claims – and notify claimants – within 10 business days. They must respond to routine claims requests within the same timeframe and must notify policyholders within five days of a loss assessor being appointed.

Mr Whelan says the new code gives an independent committee – rather than one controlled by ICA – “absolute power” to sanction individual insurers.

This power was available to the old committee, although as we’ve noted was used only once.

The new code took effect on July 1, but its 151 signatories have until July 1 next year to sign a new deed of adoption.

ICA President Mark Milliner says the launch follows two years of groundwork, including consultation with consumer groups, governments, regulators and industry.

The first code was launched in 1994. It has now been reviewed four times, in 1998, 2006, 2009 and 2012.

In May last year lawyer Ian Enright completed the latest review, making 60 recommendations that were for the most part hastily sidelined.

Mr Whelan says the “vast majority” of Mr Enright’s recommendations have been adopted, but ICA has retained its code policy-setting role, rather than transferring it to the independent governance committee as suggested.

And the bureaucracy and plethora of independent committees Mr Enright wanted established to ensure the code was really independent are no longer referred to in polite circles.

“We stopped short of moving policy outside ICA because we didn’t want that,” Mr Whelan says. He doesn’t elaborate on who “we” includes.

The code – which has been rewritten in plain English, which is a laudable advance – also holds back from imposing financial sanctions for breaches.

“We think transparency of an individual company’s reputation and compliance with the code is more than enough of a sanction,” Mr Whelan says. “The new committee is quite powerful in that sense because the reputation of companies is extremely important.”

About 78% of code breaches finalised by the Financial Ombudsman Service in 2012/13 involved claims-handling, according to ICA.

Consumers will have stronger and clearer rights when buying insurance, making claims, experiencing financial hardship or resolving complaints against insurers.

The code governance committee, replacing the code compliance committee, will have three members: one consumer, one industry and one independent – exactly the same arrangement as the old code compliance committee. Its membership should be finalised by the end of this month.

Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) Deputy Chairman Peter Kell made a speech at the launch event.

He says the insurance industry has faced greater scrutiny in recent years due to natural disasters, and the code is an important tool in the face of growing community expectations.

Legal Aid NSW Senior Solicitor Julie Maron also addressed the event, saying she has attended nine disaster centres in two-and-a-half years, dealing with many clients “who have never made a claim in their lives”.

She says hardship provisions in the updated code are “really good”. They are, and much more should have been made about them by ICA in its spruiking of the new code.

Mr Whelan says the council is now working to have the code ratified by ASIC, to give consumers greater confidence and the code “more credentials”.

“It has been a long and difficult journey, but one that is extremely worthwhile.”

Putting aside the PR spin, there’s actually plenty to be pleased about in the new code. The cosmetic changes to governance – while a far cry from what the independent reviewer wanted – won’t do any harm, and it does promise a better deal for consumers.