Right to be forgotten and AERAS: time limits

Three schemes, three thresholds

The €200,000 threshold is assessed per insured person and on the insured share of the total outstanding balance of your loans (art. L113-2-1). Switching insurance during the loan is covered in our guide on the loi Lemoine (Lemoine Act on borrower insurance).

The right to be forgotten: 5 years after treatment ends

The law sets the ceiling: “the period beyond which no medical information relating to cancerous conditions and viral hepatitis C may be collected by insurers may not exceed five years from the end of the treatment protocol” (our translation) (Public Health Code, art. L1141-5, in force since 2 March 2022). The text sets no age limit; the limit of 71 at the end of the contract comes from the AERAS agreement, as presented by service-public.gouv.fr.

The agreement’s grid clarifies two concepts:

• end of the treatment protocol: the date on which active treatment (surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy) ends, after which no further treatment is needed, apart from any ongoing treatment such as hormone therapy or immunotherapy;
• relapse: any new medically established manifestation of the illness, by clinical, laboratory or imaging examination.

What you still have to declare. You must declare the consequences of the illness (service-public.gouv.fr). The grid also mentions other conditions and risk factors, as well as current situations of incapacity, disability or unfitness for work. If a history covered by the right to be forgotten was declared anyway, the insurance proposal may not include any exclusion or loading on that account (aeras-infos.fr).

The reference grid: time limits condition by condition

For people not covered by the right to be forgotten, the grid has two parts (September 2023 edition, the only one published on aeras-infos.fr at 12 October 2026).

Part I: no loading and no exclusion, after a period without relapse. Examples:

Part II: capped loading. Examples: stage I invasive breast cancer, after 3 years, loading capped at 100%; chronic myeloid leukaemia, after 5 years, loading capped at 150%; prostate adenocarcinoma under active surveillance, with no waiting period, loading limited to 75% for death and PTIA (total and irreversible loss of autonomy). Limitations of cover may also apply.

The grid points out that these conditions assume the absence of other risk factors, which are assessed separately. Have your doctor check these criteria (aeras-infos.fr).

How the application is examined and how to challenge a decision

Above €200,000 or age 60, the insurer may ask about your health. It must give you an information document on the AERAS agreement. The application is examined on three levels, automatically, without any action on your part (aeras-infos.fr):

1. general health questionnaire;
2. condition-specific questionnaire and medical documents; a proposal made at this stage is valid for 4 months (service-public.gouv.fr);
3. the pool for very high risks, available if the insured share does not exceed €420,000 and the contract ends before age 71.

If you are refused, the insurer informs you by letter; you can write to its medical officer, directly or through a doctor of your choice, to find out the medical reasons (aeras-infos.fr). If the right to be forgotten or the grid was not applied, refer the matter to the commission de médiation Aeras (AERAS mediation committee). It has no jurisdiction over the level of the premium or loading, nor over the decision to grant the loan (service-public.gouv.fr). The bank then considers alternative security: a life insurance policy already taken out, a pledge of securities, a mortgage on another property (service-public.gouv.fr). See our guide on garantie de prêt immobilier (mortgage security).

Which professional to consult

A courtier en crédit (mortgage broker) can approach several insurers, check that the right to be forgotten or the grid has been applied and prepare a délégation d’assurance (cover from an insurer other than the bank’s), detailed in our guide on assurance emprunteur (borrower insurance). If the alternative security chosen is a mortgage, the notaire (notary) is involved: they register the hypothèque du prêteur de deniers (lender’s mortgage) with the service de la publicité foncière (land registration office) (service-public.gouv.fr).