failed to loss to the institution. Moreover, employers, in many cases, make reports at all or did not keep the insurance institution informed of the changes which had taken place in their undertakings, and for such offenses the law prescribed no penalties. The minister of the interior took the initiative in the needed reform, and on June 19, 1897, the Government presented to the Storting a project of law which led to the law of August 6, 1897. This law provides that the obligation of insurance is independent of the duration of the employment. Secondly, it imposes the obligation on every employer coming under the law of making a complete report of his business. It provides, furthermore, that this declaration, made in duplicate, shall give all the information necessary to show whether the business is subject to insurance and to determine the class of risks and the corresponding premium. Thirdly, the law of 1897 applies only to employers making inexact declarations the provisions as to the amount of the fine which the law of 1894 also applied to those failing to make prompt declarations; but the law of 1897 provides that the employer who, after being fined, fails to discharge his obligations under the law, shall pay a second fine equal to at least twice the amount of the first. But no penalties were prescribed for failure to give the required information concerning changes in their business. REVISION OF 1898. The minister of the interior, after the law of 1894 went into effect, invited the Royal Institution of Insurance to present a project for its revision at the date provided for in the law. This project was presented April 20, 1898. The institution, in its project, stated that it did not care to advocate a new classification of risks or a different scale of premiums, since its administrative force was wholly insufficient for such a task and adequate statistical data were wanting. But to enable the Storting to come to an immediate decision it presented two propositions: First, to retain the classification and scale then in force, but with modifications and with the insertion in the classification of the administrative decisions which had been made. concerning certain industries in accordance with the law, and with the understanding that as soon as possible the law of 1894 should be so amended as to permit revision of the classification of risks at any time; second, to go back to the scale presented on April 6, 1895, and modeled on the Austrian scale and to adopt from it the maxima of the second variant. The institution gave its preference to the first proposition. On May 18, 1898, the minister declared himself in favor of the first proposition. With reference to the question of how the deficit should be met, he took issue with those who held that because of the state guarantee in the law the public treasury should pay it. He insisted that when the law was under discussion it had been understood that the treasury should intervene only under extraordinary circumstances, such as financial crises, wars, or exceptionally bad years, and that under ordinary circumstances the insurance institution was expected to meet its expenses with its own resources, which consisted of premiums suitably calculated and periodically revised. The minister's propositions were accepted by the Storting, and on July 11, 1898, received royal sanction. In his report of February 27, 1899, the director of the Royal Institution of Insurance stated that the deficit, which was 356,641.63 crowns ($95,579.96) on December 31, 1896, had increased to 548,000 crowns ($146,864) at the end of 1897, and was likely to continue to increase as long as the scale of premiums in force continued to be applied. He made several proposals for putting the institution on a sound financial basis, among which were, that the State should meet the existing deficit and that the scale of premiums should be revised to prevent a future deficit. In a report of May 2, 1899, the minister of the interior proposed that the deficit be covered by two annual grants of 250,000 crowns ($67,000) each and that the scale of premiums be revised. The Storting adopted these proposals and the grants were made. Since, on account of the advanced stage of the work of the special committee intrusted with the study of insurance against invalidity, there was reason to expect, at an early date, a revision of the accident insurance law, the Government preferred to postpone the proposed modifications of the law and the decision as to who should be responsible for future possible deficits and merely to formulate measures permitting the raising of the scale of premiums for the purpose of providing sufficient income for the insurance institution. Meantime, the public treasury could be expected to come to the rescue in case of necessity. Accordingly, the minister of the interior presented a bill which, with certain modifications, became the law of December 23, 1899. The chief provisions of this law are as follows: LAW OF DECEMBER 23, 1899. The right of determining the distribution of industries among the risk classes and the coefficient applicable to each class is given to the King alone without the necessity of approval by the Storting; but it is provided that the Storting has the right to revise this distribution and these coefficients every three years, beginning with 1903, before the end of June. The revision may be made at any time instead of every five years, as provided by the law of 1894. The changes are not to go into effect before the beginning of the following year, and unless the Storting otherwise provides, they shall be published at least two months before going into effect. The law of 1894 provided that the coefficient of an establishment which included kinds of work belonging to different risk classes should be determined by the board of directors of the insurance institution. The present law further provides that they may proceed in either of two ways: (1) They may calculate separately the premium for each of the kinds of work under consideration when it is possible to distinguish them clearly as to certain matters, such as the number of workmen and the accounting; or (2) they may fix an average premium for the whole enterprise. Unlike the law of 1894, the law of 1899 makes no provision for industries not mentioned in the scale. The law requires employers to keep lists of wages according to a form approved by the insurance institution, and it provides that employers who fail to fulfill this obligation shall be subject to the same penalties as those employers who fail to make declarations or who make false ones. It imposes the same penalties for failure to furnish estimates of the amount of premium due, whereas the law of 1894 merely provided for intervention on the part of the insurance institution in such cases. The same right of intervention may, however, be exercised at the discretion of the insurance institution. A retention of a portion of the wages in view of the payment of the premium involves the same offense as a reduction, which alone is referred to in the laws of 1894 and of 1897. In order to establish perfect harmony between the special accident law and the law in general, the new law provides that forced execution for the collection of premiums in arrears may be carried out by the official ordinarily intrusted with this duty. The seriousness of the lack in the law of 1894 of adequate provision for penalties for delinquent employers, a defect which the law of 1897 had failed to correct, was emphasized by the fact that, owing to the wave of prosperity which swept over the country shortly after the law went into effect, employers were tempted to refrain from making the required declarations of workmen and wages, so that the institution was obliged to continue to determine the amounts of their premiums on the basis of the old declarations, and the estimated contributions of the majority of the establishments consequently remained the same from year to year. The extent of the evil is indicated by the following table, from which it appears that during this period there was a radical increase in the number of workmen and in their wages, and consequently in the number of persons insured and in the average amount of compensation paid by the institution. NUMBER OF ESTABLISHMENTS AND EMPLOYEES INSURED, WAGE DECLARATIONS, AND AVERAGE WAGES, 1896 TO 1899. [Source: Die Arbeiter-Versicherung im Auslande, Dr. Zacher, Heft IIIb, 1908, p. 18.] As soon as the new law went into force it became possible to force the making of the delayed statements of wages for the entire period from 1895 to 1899, since the offense of the employers, as an offense of omission, was not subject to the statutes of limitations. The testing of the declarations took place in the years 1900 to 1902 and the result fully proved the suspicion which had been expressed that the employers had very considerable back payments to make. The law of December 23, 1899, requires that unless the Storting shall decide to the contrary, every modification of the classification of risks and scale of premiums shall be published at least two months before going into effect. But in order that the new classification of risks and scale of premiums might go into effect January 1, 1900, the Storting set aside this provision for the time being, and on December 30, 1899, the King decreed that on January 1, 1900, a new classification should go into effect. CLASSIFICATION OF RISKS AND SCALE OF PREMIUMS OF 1903. The law of December 23, 1899, required that the classification of risks and the scale of premiums should be revised before the end of June, 1903. Having been invited by the minister of commerce and industry on October 27, 1902, to present a plan of modification, the Royal Institution of Insurance presented a memorial containing suggestions that the scale of premiums of 1900 be retained and the classification of risks of 1900 be partially modified. These suggestions were adopted by the Storting May 27, 1903, and received the royal sanction on August 1 following. The new classification of risks was as follows. (") No establishments were placed in the first three classes of risk. Porcelain factories. FOURTH CLASS. Factories making products of baked earth. Crockery factories. Potteries, without motors. Factories making gold and silver articles. a Belgian Annuaire de la Législation du Travail, 1903, p. 439. Tack factories, without motors. Type foundries. Manufacture of instruments and apparatus without motors. Manufacture of pianos, harmoniums, and organs, without motors. Manufacture of perfumes, without motors. Establishments for the treatment of whale oil with steam. Woolen factories (exclusively weaving). Linen factories (exclusively weaving). Bag factories. Ribbon factories, with motors. Cotton factories (exclusively weaving), with motors. Twisting of thread for knitting, exclusive of spinning mills. Dressing establishments, without motors. Dyeing establishments, without motors. Knitted vest factories (without spinning). Factories making knitted articles, fish nets, etc. Factories making flies for fishing. Bookbinding establishments, without motors. Saddlery shops. Manufacture of traveling outfits and similar articles. Factories making articles from india rubber and gutta-percha, without motors. Factories making rubber stamps. Factories making hardware, fancy articles, and wooden toys, without motors. Factories making horn buttons, etc., without motors. Brush and artists' brush factories, without the making of handles. Dairies or cheese factories, with motors or steam boilers. Tobacco factories. Glove factories. Hat factories. Garment factories; cutting shops, with motors. Cravat factories. Fur factories. Cloth button factories. Umbrella and parasol factories, without manufacture of canes. Factories making paper articles (envelopes, bags, etc.). Laying of payements with cementing of flag stones, of courts, etc. (as an independent industry). |