Brussels, 10/06/2002 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission proposes to increase the coverage of automobile insurance and to have compulsory coverage for cyclists and pedestrians that are victims of road accidents. After lengthy discussions between the parties interested at the invitation of the European Parliament, it adopted a proposal for a "fifth insurance directive" on Friday, which mainly brings in the following changes:
- Minimum amount of cover: This would be increased, for corporal damage, from EUR 350,000 to 1 million euro, and for material damage, from 100,000 to 500,000. At the present state of time, only eight Member States have introduced the principle of unlimited coverage for corporal damage. The compensation amounts should, on the other hand, be increased in Portugal, Greece, Ireland and Spain. In a resolution, Parliament called for the threshold to be fixed at EUR 2 million.
- Permanent coverage for short stays: The new directive would ban the inclusion of clauses that cancel the insurance contract when the vehicle is outside the country of registration after a certain amount of time. The principle will be valid for temporary stays but does not concern rules of registration, which may mean changing the registration of a vehicle when the owner changes State of residence. The directive also specifies the rules for insuring vehicles throughout transfer, when a vehicle bought in one Member State must be transferred to the State of residence of the buyer, for example. The State of destination will then be considered as the territory where the vehicle is normally parked.
- Coverage of cyclists and pedestrians: The directive will make it compulsory for car insurance to cover compensation to pedestrians and cyclists that are road accident victims, as is the case in France, Belgium and Sweden. It will then be up to the courts to determine the responsibility and the fault of the pedestrians and cyclists in such accidents. "Experience of this in Member States where there is this provision shows there is no evident impact on the cost of insurance", says one Commission official.
