Proposed laws giving Australians greater control over their own data don’t sufficiently exempt the data accessed by insurers to underwrite risks.

The potential loophole could compromise insurers’ underwriting models, the Insurance Council of Australia (ICA) says in a submission to Treasury.

It says the legislation does not provide enough direction about the scope of data subject to the legislation.

While Treasury has stated the Consumer Data Right regime isn’t intended to apply to high-value data used by commercial interests, the council says this intent isn’t reflected in the draft legislation.

The detailed and sophisticated data used by insurers to underwrite a wide range of risks is their commercial asset, and the basis on which insurers compete against each other, ICA says.

“Any requirement to release data must not compromise the underwriting model used by insurers to assess and price risk.”

The submission says the legislation should be consistent with the Productivity Commission’s recommendation of an industry-led data policy.