Brussels, 21/06/2005 (Agence Europe) - Having received the opinions of the Member States and professionals, the European Commission has just launched an on-line consultation, which will be open to the general public until 15 July, on two questions related to the vehicle insurance. First of all, the Commission wants to find out what the European citizens know about national public compensation bodies and their effectiveness in settling claims, particularly cross-border claims. It also hopes to find out more about problems individuals have encountered in insuring their vehicles' trailers.
The Commission is currently carrying out a study into the effectiveness of national compensation bodies. Instituted by directive 2000/26/EC (the fourth directive on the vehicle insurance), these bodies were set up to promote rapid compensation payments to people in England or having suffered damage outside their Member State of residence. They can be applied to when an insurer does not nominate a representative tasked with resolving the claim in the Member State of residence of the victim. Whilst drafting the fifth "vehicle insurance" directive, the European Parliament raised several questions relating to the insurance of trailers. When it was definitively adopted at the Competitiveness Council of April 2005, the Commission indicated that before 20 July, it would submit a report to the EP and the Council on the specific problems posed by trailers. (The questionnaire can be consulted on the Internet site: http: //europa.eu.int/comm/internal_market/ insurance/motor_en.htm).