Case C‑506/16

José Joaquim Neto de Sousa

v

Estado português

(Request for a preliminary ruling from the Tribunal da Relação do Porto)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles — Directive 72/166/EEC — Directive 84/5/EEC — Directive 90/232/EEC — Driver responsible for the accident which caused the death of his spouse, a passenger in the vehicle — National legislation excluding compensation for material damage suffered by the driver responsible for the accident)

Summary — Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber), 7 September 2017

Approximation of laws — Insurance against civil liability in respect of motor vehicles — Directives 72/166, 84/5 and 90/232 — National legislation excluding the right of the driver responsible for an accident to compensation for the material harm suffered by him — Lawfulness

(Council Directives 72/166, 84/5, as amended by Directive 2005/14, and 90/232)

Council Directive 72/166/EEC of 24 April 1972 on the approximation of the laws of Member States relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles, and to the enforcement of the obligation to insure against such liability, Second Council Directive 84/5/EEC of 30 December 1983 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles, as amended by Directive 2005/14/EC of 11 May 2005, and Third Council Directive 90/232/EEC of 14 May 1990 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles, must be interpreted as not precluding national provisions which allow exclusion of the right of a driver of a motor vehicle responsible, by his own fault, for a traffic accident as a result of which his spouse, a passenger in that vehicle, has died, to receive compensation for the material harm which he has suffered as a result of that death.

In the main proceedings, it is appropriate to note that Mr Neto de Sousa’s right to compensation is affected not by a limitation of the cover for civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles under provisions in the area of insurance but by the applicable national system of civil liability.

The national legislation at issue in the main proceedings, as interpreted by the Supremo Tribunal de Justiça (Supreme Court), has the effect of excluding the driver of a motor vehicle, as the person responsible for a traffic accident, from the right to be compensated for the harm which he himself has suffered following that accident. That legislation is thus not such as to limit the civil liability insurance cover established for the insured person in respect of damage caused to third parties (see, by analogy, judgment of 23 October 2012, Marques Almeida, C‑300/10, EU:C:2012:656, paragraph 35).

In those circumstances, it must be held that the national legislation at issue in the main proceedings does not affect the guarantee, provided by the law of the European Union, that civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles, determined according to the applicable national law, will be covered by insurance in accordance with the First, Second and Third Directives (see, by analogy, judgment of 23 October 2012, Marques Almeida, C‑300/10, EU:C:2012:656, paragraph 38). That consideration is not called into question by the fact that the material harm suffered by Mr Neto de Sousa flows from the death of his wife, who was a passenger in the vehicle which he was driving when he caused the accident. The information provided by the referring court appears to show that the main proceedings do not concern the right to compensation for harm suffered by a victim who was a passenger in a vehicle involved in an accident but the right to compensation for the harm suffered by the driver responsible for that accident.

(see paras 33-38, operative part)