European insurers warn proposed laws on data protection may increase the cost of cover.

The European Union (EU) plans to amend its laws on the “right to be forgotten”, which would allow people to request that their data be removed from search engines such as Google, and from insurers’ databases.

Insurance Europe (IE), the region’s insurance and reinsurance representative body, says insurers would no longer possess or be able to process data required to identify fraudsters, and the cost of fraud – estimated at 10% of all claims in Europe – would increase.

The laws could stop insurers handling and paying claims, because they will not be able to process the data they need if policyholders ask for information to be deleted.

IE Head of Conduct of Business William Vidonja says the legislation must take into account the way insurers use data for essential processes.

The EU proposals say people will have the right to data erasure when the information is no longer necessary for the purpose for which it was collected or processed.

It proposes fines of up to 2% of annual worldwide turnover for companies that do not allow the right to be forgotten.