War Exclusion Clauses in Insurance Policies: What Surveyors and Adjusters Must Know in 2026
Aditya GuptaMarch 13, 202611 min readWar exclusion clauses are among the most consequential provisions in any insurance policy, and in 2026 they are being tested, debated, and litigated more aggressively than at any point in the past three decades. As a domain expert who has worked with insurers and surveyors across both India and the United States, I have seen firsthand how a single clause can determine whether a multi-crore or multi-million-dollar claim gets paid or denied. This article breaks down what war exclusion clauses actually say, how they apply across property, marine, and commercial lines, and what surveyors and adjusters need to know to document claims correctly when conflict is involved.
What Exactly Is a War Exclusion Clause?
A war exclusion clause is a standard policy provision that removes coverage for losses caused by war, invasion, armed conflict, insurrection, rebellion, revolution, military or usurped power, or any act of foreign enemies. Most property and casualty policies worldwide include some version of this exclusion. The exact language varies by insurer, market, and policy type, but the intent is consistent: insurers do not want to cover losses from large-scale armed conflict because these events are uninsurable at standard premium levels.
In the United States, the standard ISO Commercial Property policy includes War and Military Action exclusions under Section B. This exclusion covers war (declared or undeclared), warlike action by military forces, insurrection, rebellion, and revolution. Notably, many US policies also include a separate Terrorism exclusion or coverage endorsement under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA), which creates a distinction between acts of war and acts of terrorism.
In India, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India (IRDAI) mandates standard policy wordings for fire and allied perils, marine, and motor lines. The Standard Fire and Special Perils Policy explicitly excludes loss, destruction, or damage caused by war, invasion, act of foreign enemy hostilities (whether war is declared or not), civil war, mutiny, civil commotion assuming the proportions of or amounting to a popular rising, military rising, insurrection, rebellion, revolution, military or usurped power. The IRDAI also provides specific guidelines on nuclear and radiological exclusions, which often appear alongside war exclusions. For a deeper look at IRDAI compliance requirements, see our guide on IRDAI compliance and AI survey reports.
Why Are War Exclusion Clauses Under Scrutiny in 2026?
The ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, tensions in the Middle East affecting Red Sea shipping lanes, and border tensions in South Asia have all pushed war exclusion clauses into active disputes. Lloyd's of London issued updated guidance in 2023 requiring all cyber policies to include explicit state-backed cyber attack exclusions, which are essentially war exclusions adapted for digital conflict. The Merck v. Ace American Insurance case in the US set a precedent when the court ruled that a standard war exclusion did not apply to the NotPetya cyber attack, even though the attack was attributed to a state actor.
In India, the situation is equally complex. Tensions along the Line of Control and the Line of Actual Control have led to property damage claims in border areas of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh. Surveyors tasked with inspecting these claims must determine whether the damage resulted from military action (excluded) or from incidental causes like fire spreading from a military operation to civilian property (potentially covered). The distinction is not academic. It determines whether the insured receives compensation.
Marine insurance has been hit hardest. The Joint War Committee (JWC) in London designates Listed Areas where additional war risk premiums apply. As of early 2026, these include the Black Sea, the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, parts of the Persian Gulf, and waters around the Horn of Africa. Indian shipping companies trading through the Strait of Hormuz or the Suez Canal face war risk premiums that have increased by 300-500% compared to 2021 levels. For surveyors handling marine claims in these areas, understanding war exclusions is essential. Our marine insurance survey report guide covers the documentation requirements in detail.
How Do Surveyors Determine If Damage Falls Under a War Exclusion?
This is where practical field work meets legal interpretation. As a surveyor or adjuster, your job is not to make the final coverage determination. That is the insurer's or underwriter's decision. But your documentation must capture the evidence that enables that determination. Here is what I recommend based on years of handling these cases.
Document the proximate cause. Insurance operates on the principle of proximate cause, the dominant or effective cause of the loss. If a military strike destroys a warehouse, the proximate cause is clearly an act of war. But if a power grid failure caused by military action leads to a factory's refrigeration system shutting down and perishable goods being destroyed, the chain of causation is less clear. Your report must document every link in that causal chain with evidence: timestamps, photographs, witness statements, and official records.
Collect official documentation. In India, this means FIRs (First Information Reports) from local police, district administration orders, and any communication from the Ministry of Home Affairs or Ministry of Defence regarding the incident. In the US, look for FEMA declarations, National Guard deployment orders, and local law enforcement incident reports. These documents help establish whether the government classified the event as an act of war, civil disturbance, or something else.
Photograph everything with metadata. GPS-geotagged, timestamped photographs are critical. If you are documenting damage near a conflict area, your photos need to show the location precisely. FieldScribe AI captures this metadata automatically with every photo, which becomes essential evidence when the insurer needs to determine proximity to military action. For more on how AI helps document claims in commercial and industrial settings, see our article on commercial and industrial property insurance surveys.
Record witness and insured statements carefully. The insured's description of what happened and when it happened is crucial. If the insured says "soldiers came and burnt the building," that statement directly implicates the war exclusion. If they say "a fire broke out during the unrest and spread to our premises from the neighboring building," the analysis shifts. Record these statements verbatim using voice capture in FieldScribe AI, which transcribes and preserves the original audio for reference.
What Is the Difference Between War, Terrorism, and Civil Commotion?
Policies typically treat these as separate categories with different exclusion or coverage provisions. Understanding the distinctions is critical for accurate documentation.
War involves armed conflict between nations or organized military forces. Most standard policies exclude war-related losses completely, with no option to buy back coverage under the base policy.
Terrorism involves violent acts intended to coerce or intimidate a civilian population for political, religious, or ideological purposes. In the US, the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) provides a federal backstop for certified acts of terrorism, meaning many commercial policies do cover terrorism losses up to certain limits. In India, there is no equivalent federal terrorism insurance pool. Terrorism losses under property policies depend on the specific policy wording and endorsements.
Civil commotion, riot, and strike are typically covered perils under standard property policies in both India and the US, unless specifically excluded. The IRDAI Standard Fire and Special Perils Policy includes coverage for riot, strike, and malicious damage (RSMD) as standard. In the US, most homeowners and commercial property policies cover riot and civil commotion. However, there is a grey area: when does a riot escalate into an insurrection? When does civil commotion become rebellion? These definitional boundaries become the surveyor's headache. For more on how AI tools flag inconsistencies and potential fraud indicators in these complex claims, read our article on AI conflict detection and fraud prevention in insurance claims.
How Should Adjusters Handle Cross-Border War Exclusion Claims?
Cross-border claims are increasingly common. An Indian company with a warehouse in a border state suffers damage from shelling that originates across the international border. A US company with assets in the Middle East faces losses from a drone strike. A multinational insured under a global master policy has local policies in multiple jurisdictions, each with different war exclusion language.
For Indian adjusters, IRDAI's guidelines are clear that the policy wording governs, but practical enforcement depends on how the loss is categorized by local and national authorities. If the Ministry of Defence classifies the event as an act of war, the exclusion applies straightforwardly. If the event is classified as cross-border terrorism, the analysis becomes more nuanced.
For US adjusters, the key question is often whether the event qualifies as a "certified act of terrorism" under TRIA, which triggers the federal backstop, or whether it falls under the broader war exclusion. The certification is made by the Secretary of the Treasury in consultation with the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General. Without certification, terrorism losses are handled under the policy's own terrorism coverage or exclusion provisions.
In both markets, the adjuster's documentation must be thorough enough to support analysis under multiple possible classifications. I always recommend that surveyors document as if they do not know how the event will ultimately be classified, because at the time of the survey, they usually do not.
What Tools Help Surveyors Document War-Related Claims Accurately?
Traditional paper-based or Word-document survey methods fall short for conflict-related claims. These claims require precise timestamps, verified location data, chain-of-custody documentation for evidence, and structured reports that address specific policy exclusion language.
FieldScribe AI was built for exactly this type of high-stakes documentation. The platform captures GPS-geotagged photos with unalterable timestamps, records and transcribes voice notes in multiple languages (critical for Indian surveyors working in border regions where local languages vary), and generates structured reports that include all the evidence sections an underwriter needs to evaluate exclusion applicability.
The offline-first architecture is particularly relevant for conflict zone documentation. Many conflict-affected areas have disrupted telecommunications infrastructure. FieldScribe AI works entirely offline, storing all captured data locally on the device and syncing when connectivity is restored. Nothing is lost, and the timestamps reflect the actual capture time, not the sync time.
For surveyors handling multiple concurrent war-related claims, the batch processing capability allows you to capture evidence across several sites in a single day and generate individual reports for each claim with the correct evidence attached to the correct file.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do war exclusion clauses apply to cyber attacks by nation states?
This is one of the most actively debated questions in insurance law. Lloyd's of London now requires all cyber policies to include state-backed cyber attack exclusions starting from 2023. However, the Merck v. Ace American case in the US established that a traditional war exclusion in a property policy did not apply to the NotPetya cyber attack, even though it was attributed to Russia. The answer depends on the specific policy language and jurisdiction.
Can businesses buy back war coverage through endorsements?
For property and casualty policies, war coverage buyback is generally not available in standard markets. However, marine war risk coverage is widely available through separate war risk policies or the Institute War Clauses. Political violence coverage, which covers some acts that overlap with war, is available from specialty markets like Lloyd's and some surplus lines carriers in the US. In India, war risk coverage for marine cargo is available through the General Insurance Corporation (GIC) reinsurance pool.
How do Indian surveyors handle claims in border areas affected by military tensions?
Surveyors must coordinate with local district administration and obtain relevant government communications about the nature of the incident. The IRDAI expects surveyors to document the proximate cause with supporting evidence. If the event is classified as military action, the war exclusion applies. If property damage resulted from a fire that started during military action but spread beyond the conflict zone, the proximate cause analysis becomes the central question. Surveyors should document the fire's origin, spread pattern, and any available official records.
What is the difference between TRIA coverage and standard war exclusion in US policies?
TRIA (Terrorism Risk Insurance Act) provides a federal reinsurance backstop for certified acts of terrorism. It does not cover acts of war. The key distinction is that TRIA applies to terrorism (violent acts dangerous to human life, intended to coerce civilians or influence government policy) while the war exclusion applies to armed conflict between nations or organized military forces. An event can potentially be classified as both, but TRIA certification is made by senior government officials and is a separate determination from whether the war exclusion applies.
Should surveyors refuse to inspect claims in active conflict zones?
Personal safety must always come first. Neither IRDAI guidelines nor US adjuster licensing requirements expect surveyors to put themselves in physical danger. In active conflict areas, remote documentation methods, satellite imagery analysis, drone surveys (where legally permitted), and delayed inspections once the area is secure are all acceptable approaches. FieldScribe AI's offline capability means you can document quickly during a brief safe window and process the report later.
How do war exclusion clauses interact with nuclear exclusion clauses?
Most policies contain separate nuclear exclusion clauses that operate independently of the war exclusion. This means that nuclear-related losses are excluded whether or not they arise from an act of war. In India, the IRDAI Standard Fire and Special Perils Policy explicitly excludes nuclear risks regardless of the cause. In the US, the Nuclear Energy Liability Exclusion Endorsement applies to all property policies. If a nuclear event occurs during wartime, both exclusions apply, but the nuclear exclusion would typically be the primary basis for denial.
Frequently Asked Questions
Aditya Gupta
Co-Founder & Domain Expert, FieldScribe AI
Licensed empanelled surveyor and Chartered Accountant with 8+ years practicing across various states in India. The visionary behind FieldScribe AI, bringing deep domain expertise in insurance field surveying, IRDAI compliance, claims documentation, and loss adjusting.
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