French technological disaster scheme

On 21 September 2001, the explosion of an ammonium nitrate stock at the AZF plant in Toulouse killed thirty-one people and damaged tens of thousands of homes. Victims then found that their compensation depended on their policies, limits, deductibles, and on a recourse against the operator that would take years. The law of 30 July 2003 on the prevention of technological and natural risks created a specific scheme in response. When an accident at a classified installation, or linked to certain transport of dangerous goods, damages a large number of homes, the state may declare a technological disaster by decree. Insurers of residential property must then compensate the damage in full, within three months, without applying the ordinary limits and deductibles of their policies, and then exercise recourse against the party responsible. Uninsured victims are compensated by the guarantee fund. The scheme is rarely triggered, as few accidents reach the required threshold, and the 2019 fire at the Lubrizol plant in Rouen did not activate it. It reflects a logic close to the natural catastrophe scheme: public authority imposes on insurance the role of fast payer, and leaves the question of liability to recourse.