WRITTEN QUESTION E-2198/00

by Gilles Savary (PSE) to the Commission

(3 July 2000)

Subject: European coordination of insurance provisions

A French national, involved in a road accident in Spain with a Spanish national, has been refused reimbursement by his French insurance company on the grounds that the Spanish driver is not insured.

On what Community or intergovernmental provisions can the plaintiff base an appeal for damages?

What court action can the French victim of this road accident take under the existing legislation?

Answer given by Mr Bolkestein on behalf of the Commission

(28 July 2000)

The Honourable Member is referred to Article 1(4) of the 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(1), which provides for the setting up or authorisation of a body with the task of providing compensation for victims of accidents resulting from the use of motor vehicles where the vehicle which caused the accident is not insured or is not identified. The guarantee fund is the corollary of compulsory insurance; if the insurer evades that obligation, another body must cover the risk and pay in his place.

With regard to the case referred to by the Honourable Member, if the uninsured vehicle which caused the accident was registered in Spain, the guarantee fund of that State must provide compensation in the absence of an insurer who could cover the risk. The interested party must contact that body direct, and the body must reply with grounds for its action.

The Directive is the second in a series of four directives to facilitate the use of motor vehicles and to protect the interests of victims of road accidents in the Community, irrespective of the place where the accident happens. The first Council Directive 72/166/EC 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(2), made it compulsory to insure against civil liability throughout the Community. The second and third directives (84/5/EEC and 90/232/EEC(3)) extended and reinforced that protection. These directives cover accidents resulting from the use of motor vehicles in the victim's state of residence, caused by vehicles registered and insured in that country or in another Member State. Council Directive 90/618/EEC of 8 November 1990 amending, particularly as regards motor vehicle insurance, Directives 73/239/EEC and 88/357/EEC, which concern the coordination of laws, regulations and administrative provision relating to direct insurance other than life assurance(4), puts on the same footing situations where the accident occurs in the victim's country and the vehicle, while registered in that country, is insured by an insurance company of an another Member State, operating as service providers.

Lastly, the aim of the Parliament and Council directive on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles, amending Directives 73/239/EEC and 88/357/EEC (fourth motor vehicle insurance directive), adopted on 16 May 2000(5), is to improve the current system with regard to the compensation of persons who, during a temporary stay in a Member State other than their state of residence, suffered an injury caused by a vehicle registered and insured in a Member State other than their state of residence. Article 7 states that if identification of the vehicle is not possible or if within a period of two months following the accident, the insurance company cannot be identified, the injured party can submit a claim for compensation to the compensation body of the Member State where he resides. Following publication in the Official Journal, Member States have 24 months to transpose the directive into their internal law.

(1) OJ L 8, 11.1.1984.

(2) OJ L 103, 2.5.1972.

(3) OJ L 129, 19.5.1990.

(4) OJ L 330, 29.11.1990.

(5) OJ L 181, 20.7.2000.