Katja Candolin, Jari-Antero Viljaniemi and Veli-Matti Paananen v Vahinkovakuutusosakeyhtiö Pohjola and Jarno Ruokoranta.
Date: 2005-06-30
17. As a preliminary point it must be recalled that the First, Second and Third Directives are designed to ensure the free movement of vehicles normally based on Community territory and of persons travelling in those vehicles and to guarantee that the victims of accidents caused by those vehicles receive comparable treatment irrespective of where in the Community the accident has occurred (Case C-129/94 Ruiz Bernáldez [1996] ECR I-1829, paragraph 13).
18. In view of the aim of protecting victims, the Court has held that Article 3(1) of the First Directive precludes an insurer from relying on statutory provisions or contractual clauses in order to refuse to compensate third-party victims of an accident caused by the insured vehicle ( Ruiz Bernáldez , paragraph 20).
19. The Court has also held that the first subparagraph of Article 2(1) of the Second Directive simply repeats that obligation with respect to provisions or clauses in a policy excluding from insurance the use or driving of vehicles in particular cases (persons not authorised to drive the vehicle, persons not holding a driving licence, persons in breach of the statutory technical requirements concerning the condition and safety of the vehicle) ( Ruiz Bernáldez , paragraph 21).
20. By way of derogation from that obligation, the second subparagraph of Article 2(1) provides that certain persons may be excluded from compensation by the insurer, having regard to the situation they have themselves brought about (persons entering a vehicle which they know to have been stolen) ( Ruiz Bernáldez , para graph 21).
23. It follows that the second subparagraph of Article 2(1) of the Second Directive must be interpreted as meaning that a statutory provision or a contractual clause in an insurance policy which excludes the use or driving of vehicles from the insurance may be relied on against third parties who are victims of a road accident only where the insurer can prove that the persons who voluntarily entered the vehicle which caused the injury knew that it was stolen.
24. As regards the refusal or limitation of the right to compensation paid by the compulsory motor vehicle insurance on account of the fact that the passenger who is a victim of an accident contributed to the injury, it is clear from the aim of the first, second and third directives, and from their wording, that they do not seek to harmonise the rules of the Member States governing civil liability and that, as Community law stands at present, the Member States are free to determine the rules of civil liability applicable to road accidents (Case C-348/98 Mendes Ferreira and Delgado Correia Ferreira  [2000] ECR I-6711, paragraphs 23 and 29).
27. The Member States must exercise their powers in compliance with Community law and, in particular, with Article 3(1) of the First Directive, Article 2(1) of the Second Directive and Article 1 of the Third Directive, whose aim is to ensure that compulsory motor vehicle insurance allows all passengers who are victims of an accident caused by a motor vehicle to be compensated for the injury or loss they have suffered.
28. The national provisions which govern compensation for road accidents cannot, therefore, deprive those provisions of their effectiveness.
29. Such would be the case specifically where, solely on the basis of the passenger’s contribution to the occurrence of his injuries, national rules, established on the basis of general and abstract criteria, either denied the passenger the right to be compensated by the compulsory motor vehicle insurance or limited such a right in a disproportionate manner.
30. It is only in exceptional circumstances that the amount of the victim’s compensation may be limited on the basis of an assessment of his particular case.
32. By providing that insurance for civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles covers liability for personal injuries to all passengers other than the driver, Article 1 of the Third Directive lays down only one distinction between the driver and the other passengers.
33. Furthermore, the protective aims recalled in paragraphs 18 to 20 of this judgment require that the legal position of the owner of the vehicle, present in the vehicle at the time of the accident as a passenger, be the same as that of any other passenger who is a victim of the accident.
35. In light of the foregoing considerations, the answer to the questions referred must be that, in circumstances such as those in the main proceedings, Article 2(1) of the Second Directive and Article 1 of the Third Directive preclude a national rule which allows the compensation borne by the compulsory motor vehicle insurance to be refused or limited in a disproportionate manner on the basis of the passenger’s contribution to the injury or loss he has suffered. The fact that the passenger concerned is the owner of the vehicle the driver of which caused the accident is irrelevant.
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