CELEX: 51988PC0644
Language: en
Date: 1988-12-20
Title: PROPOSAL FOR A THIRD 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

No C 16/12                              Official Journal of the European Communities                                     20. 1. 89
                Proposal for a third 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
                                                 COM(88) 644 final — SYN 165
                                      (Submitted by the Commission on 23 December 1988)
                                                            (89/C 16/04)
 THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES,                              Whereas it is necessary to remove uncertainty concerning
                                                                       the application of the first indent of Article 3 (2) of
 Having regard to the Treaty establishing the European                 Directive 72/166/EEC; whereas all compulsory motor
 Economic Community, and in particular Article 100a                    insurance policies must cover the entire territory of the
 thereof,                                                              Community and provide under a single premium at least
                                                                       the cover required by law in all the Member States;
 Having regard to the proposal from the Commission,
                                                                       Whereas Article 1 (4) of Directive 84/5/EEC requires
 In cooperation with the European Parliament,                          each Member State to set up or authorize a body to
                                                                       compensate the victims of accidents caused by uninsured
 Having regard to the opinion of the Economic and                      or unidentified vehicles; whereas, however, the said
 Social Committee,                                                     provision is without prejudice to the right of the Member
                                                                       States to regard compensation by the body as subsidiary
                                                                       or non-subsidiary;
Whereas, by Directive 72/166/EEC ('), as last amended
 by Directive 84/5/EEC (2), the Council adopted
 provisions on the approximation of the laws of the
 Member States relating to insurance against civil liability           Whereas, however, in the case of an accident caused by
 in respect of the use of motor vehicles and to the                    an uninsured vehicle the victim is required in certain
 enforcement of the obligation to insure against such                  Member States to establish that the party responsible is
 liability;                                                            unable or unwilling to pay compensation before he can
                                                                       claim on the body; whereas the body is better placed
                                                                       than the victim to take action against the party
Whereas Article 3 of Directive 72/166/EEC required                     responsible; whereas, therefore, the body should not be
each Member State to take all appropriate measures to                  able to invoke its .subsidiarily in this case but should
ensure that civil liability in respect of the use of vehicles          compensate the victim in the first instance;
normally based in its territory is covered by insurance;
whereas the extent of the liability covered and the terms
and conditions of the insurance cover were to be                       Whereas, in the event of a dispute between the body
determined on the basis of those measures;                             referred to above and a civil liability insurer as to which
                                                                       of them should compensate the victim of an accident,
Whereas Directive 84/5/EEC reduced considerably the                    Member States, to avoid delay in the payment of
disparities between the level and content of compulsory                compensation to the victim, should designate either the
civil liability insurance in the Member States;                        body or the insurer as responsible for paying compen-
                                                                       sation in the first instance pending resolution of the
Whereas, however, significant disparities still exist in the           dispute,
coverage of such insurance;
Whereas the elimination of such disparities, by ensuring               HAS ADOPTED THIS DIRECTIVE:
that motor vehicle accident victims receive comparable
treatment irrespective of where in the Community an
accident occurs, will further facilitate the establishment                                      Article 1
and the operation of the internal market;
                                                                      Without prejudice to the second subparagraph of Article
                                                                      2 (1) of Directive 84/5/EEC, the insurance referred to
Whereas, in particular, there are gaps in the      compulsory
                                                                      in Article 3 (1) of Directive 72/166/EEC and in Article 1
insurance coverage of vehicle passengers            in certain
                                                                       (1) of Directive 84/5/EEC shall cover liability for
Member States; whereas, to protect this            particularly
                                                                      personal injuries to all passengers, other than the driver,
vulnerable category of potential victims,          such gaps
                                                                      arising out of the use of a vehicle.
should be filled;
                                                                      For the purposes of this Directive the meaning of the
(') OJ No L 103, 2. 5. 1972, p. 2.                                    term 'vehicle' is as defined in Article 1 of Directive
(2) OJ No L 8, 11. 1. 1984, p. 17.                                    72/166/EEC.
 ---pagebreak--- 20. 1. 89                             Official Journal of the European Communities                              No C 16/13
                          Article 2                                                          Article 4
Member States shall take the necessary steps to ensure           For-the case where there is a dispute between the body
that all policies of compulsory insurance covering civil         referred to in Article 1 (4) of Directive 84/5/EEC and
liability in respect of the use of vehicles:                     the civil liability insurer as to which must compensate the
— cover, on the basis of a single premium, the entire           victim, Member States shall designate one of these
                                                                 parties as responsible for compensating the victim
    territory of the Community; and
                                                                 without delay in the first instance. If it is ultimately
— provide, on the basis of the same single premium, in           decided that the other party should have paid all or part
    addition to the cover required by law in the Member          of the compensation it shall reimburse accordingly the
    State in which the vehicle is normally based, at least       party which has paid.
    the cover required by law in each of the other
    Member States.
                                                                                             Article 5
                          Article 3
                                                                 Member States shall adopt the provisions necessary to
The following sentence shall be added to the first               comply with this Directive not later than 31 December
subparagraph of Article 1 (4) of Council Directive               1992. They shall forthwith inform the Commission
84/5/EEC:                                                        thereof.
    'However, Member States may not allow the body to
    make the payment of compensation conditional on                                          Article 6
    the victim's establishing in any way that the person
    responsible is unable or unwilling to pay'.                  This Directive is addressed to the Member States.