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Motor insuranceOverviewThe Motor Insurance Directives are a fundamental element to the free movement of vehicles in the European Union. With the first three directives, the Community took major steps towards establishing a single market in the field of motor insurance. These directives oblige all motor vehicles in the Community to be covered by compulsory third party insurance and ensure the abolition of border checks on insurance so that vehicles can be driven as easily between Member States as within one country. They also guarantee a better protection of victims of accidents, including those caused by unidentified or uninsured vehicles. All passengers in the vehicle (including the family of the driver) are covered by compulsory insurance. Furthermore the Motor Insurance Directives provide for a mechanism to compensate the local victims of accidents caused by vehicles from another Member State. This is only possible because the EU directives build upon the private sector network of bureaux and Green Card System set up by insurers. The 4th Motor Insurance Directive has completed the system by establishing an efficient mechanism for quick settlement of claims where the accident takes place outside the victim’s Member State of residence (“visiting victims”). On 7 June 2002 the Commission adopted a Proposal for a 5th Motor Insurance Directive to modernise the existing Motor Insurance Directives and improve the protection of victims. The 5th Motor insurance directive has been published on 11 June 2005 in the Official Journal of the EU Reports on motor insurance
Public Consultations2009 – Public Consultation on compensation of victims of cross-border accidents in the EUThe “Internal Market and Services” Directorate General of the European Commission launched a public consultation on compensation of victims of cross-border accidents in the EU on 29 March 2009.
The purpose of the consultation was to obtain the views of
all interested parties on the effects of application of
foreign law to claims arising from cross-border road traffic
accidents. The consultation provided stakeholders with the
opportunity to comment on the main findings of the
ROME II
study on compensation of cross-border victims in the EU The consultation paper was based on the “ROME II study on compensation of cross-border victims in the EU” and offered a series of policy options for consideration and comments. An on-line electronic tool was used to collect the responses and comments. The consultation ended on 30 June 2009. 2006 – Public Consultation on Motor Insurance: claims representatives and legal expenses insurance
In order to be able to prepare a report on two motor insurance issues, the European Commission has consulted you on the effectiveness of the claims representatives mechanism foreseen by Article 4 of the 4th Motor Insurance Directive and secondly on legal expenses insurance. One of the aims of the 4th Motor Insurance Directive is to enable visiting victims (parties who have been injured or suffered property damage outside their Member State of residence) to get faster compensation in their State of residence. Pursuant to Article 4 of this Directive, each Member State has to ensure that all motor insurance undertakings appoint a claims representative in each Member State other than that in which they have been authorised to do business. The claims representative is responsible for handling and settling claims arising from an accident occurring to visiting victims. During the preparation of the 5th Motor Insurance Directive, the European Parliament raised certain questions related to legal expenses. The European Commission agreed to examine these questions and to provide the relevant information in its report on Article 4 of the 4th Motor Insurance Directive. A legal expenses insurance undertakes against the payment of a premium to bear the costs of legal proceedings faced by the insured person as well as to provide to him or her other related services. The Public Consultation is closed. The aggregate statistics will be published on this website shortly. 2005 – Consultation on motor insurance issues
The European Commission has prepared end of 2005 a report on two motor insurance issues. This report addresses firstly the effectiveness of the compensation bodies foreseen by Article 6 of the 4th Motor Insurance Directive and secondly some insurance aspects related to trailers. In order to prepare this report, the European Commission had already consulted the public administration of the Member States and the insurance industry. The European Commission had also consulted the European citizens and all interested parties (private company, associations, etc.) to gather the necessary information on these 2 issues. The consultation was open for a month and has been closed on the 15th of July 2005. The answers gathered through this Public Consultation have been considered for the preparation of this report, which has been presented to the European Parliament and Council. A summary of the results of this public consultation has also been published on the present website. 5th Motor Insurance Directive
Directives
Recommendations and Decisions
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