Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2003:650
Date: 2003-12-04
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Approximation of laws;Freedom to provide services
Concepts: Protection of personal data;General
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: United Kingdom

Summary of the Judgment 
1. Approximation of laws — Civil liability insurance in respect of motor vehicles — 
Directive 84/5 — Compensation for damage or injury caused by an unidentified or 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-63/01 
insufficiently insured vehicle — Obligation to pay compensation attaching to a body 
under an agreement concluded with a public authority of the Member State — 
Conditions 
(Council Directive 84/5, Art. 1 (4)) 
2. Approximation of laws — Civil liability insurance in respect of motor vehicles — 
Directive 84/5 — Protection of victims — Adequacy of procedural arrangements 
under national law — Conditions 
(Council Directive 84/5, Art. 1 (4)) 
3. Approximation of laws — Civil liability insurance in respect of motor vehicles — 
Directive 84/5 — Compensation for damage or injury caused by an unidentified or 
insufficiently insured vehicle — Compensation taking account of the effluxion of time 
until actual payment of the sums awarded — Determination of arrangements the 
responsibility of the Member States 
(Council Directive 84/5, Art. 1(4)) 
4. Approximation of laws — Civil liability insurance in respect of motor vehicles — 
Directive 84/5 — Compensation for damage or injury caused by an unidentified or 
insufficiently insured vehicle — Reimbursement of costs incurred by the victim — 
Conditions — Assessment by the national court 
(Council Directive 84/5, Art. 1(4)) 
5. Community law — Rights conferred on individuals — Breach by a Member State — 
Obligation to make good damage caused to individuals — Conditions — Sufficiently 
serious breach — To be determined by the national court 
1. A body may be regarded as authorised 
by a Member State within the meaning 
of Article 1(4) of the second Directive 
84/5 on the approximation of the laws 
of the Member States relating to insur­
ance against civil liability in respect of 
the use of motor vehicles where its 
obligation to pay compensation to 
victims for damage or injury caused 
by unidentified or insufficiently insured 
vehicles derives from an agreement 
concluded between that body and a 
public authority of the Member State, 
provided that the agreement is inter­
preted and applied as obliging the body 
to provide victims with the compen­
sation guaranteed to them by the 
second directive and provided that 
victims may apply directly to that 
body. 
(see para. 37, operative part 1) 
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EVANS 
2. Procedural arrangements under 
national law that do not render it 
impossible or excessively difficult in 
practice to exercise the right to com­
pensation and that thus comply with 
the principle of effectiveness are suffi­
cient to provide the protection to 
which victims of damage or injury 
caused by unidentified or insufficiently 
insured vehicles are entitled under the 
second Directive 84/5 on the approxi­
mation of the laws of the Member 
States relating to insurance against civil 
liability in respect of the use of motor 
vehicles. 
(see paras 54, 58, operative part 1) 
3. Article 1(4) of the second Directive 
84/5 on the approximation of the laws 
of the Member States relating to insur­
ance against civil liability in respect of 
the use of motor vehicles must be 
interpreted as meaning that the com­
pensation awarded for damage or 
injuries caused by an unidentified or 
insufficiently insured vehicle, paid by 
the body authorised for that purpose, 
must take account of the effluxion of 
time until actual payment of the sums 
awarded in order to guarantee 
adequate compensation for the victims. 
It is incumbent on the Member States 
to lay down the rules to be applied for 
that purpose. 
(see para. 71, operative part 1) 
4. Article 1(4) of the second Directive 
84/5 on the approximation of the laws 
of the Member States relating to insur­
ance against civil liability in respect of 
the use of motor vehicles must be 
interpreted as meaning that the com­
pensation awarded for damage or 
injuries caused by an unidentified or 
insufficiently insured vehicle, paid by 
the body authorised for that purpose, is 
not required to include reimbursement 
of the costs incurred by victims in 
connection with the processing of their 
application for compensation except to 
the extent to which such reimburse­
ment is necessary to safeguard the 
rights derived by victims from the 
second directive in conformity with 
the principles of equivalence and effec­
tiveness. It is for the national court to 
consider whether that is the case under 
the procedural arrangements adopted 
in the Member State concerned. 
(see para. 78, operative part 1) 
5. The conditions to be satisfied for a 
Member State to be required to make 
reparation for loss and damage caused 
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SUMMARY — CASE C-63/01 
to individuals as a result of breaches of 
Community law for which the State is 
responsible are threefold: the rule of 
law infringed must be intended to 
confer rights on individuals; the breach 
must be sufficiently serious; and there 
must be a direct causal link between 
the breach of the obligation incumbent 
on the State and the loss or damage 
sustained by the injured parties. 
As regards the question whether a 
breach is sufficiently serious, all the 
factors which characterise the situation 
must be taken into account. Those 
factors include, in particular, the clar­
ity and precision of the rule infringed, 
whether the infringement or the dam­
age caused was intentional or involun­
tary, whether any error of law was 
excusable or inexcusable, and the fact 
that the position taken by a Commu­
nity institution may have contributed 
towards the adoption or maintenance 
of national measures or practices 
contrary to Community law. Those 
criteria must in principle be applied 
by the national courts in accordance 
with the guidelines laid down by the 
Court. 
It is incumbent on the national court, if 
examination of the existing compen­
sation system discloses a defect in 
transposition of the second Directive 
84/5 on the approximation of the laws 
of the Member States relating to insur­
ance against civil liability in respect of 
the use of motor vehicles and if that 
defect has adversely affected the person 
concerned, to determine whether the 
breach of that obligation of transposi­
tion is sufficiently serious. 
(see paras 83, 86-88, operative part 2) 
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