Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (Information Centre and Compensation Body) Regulations 2003
| Year | 2003 |
2003 No. 37
ROAD TRAFFIC
The Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (Information Centre and Compensation Body) Regulations 2003
Made 10th January 2003
Laid before Parliament 13th January 2003
Coming into force 19th January 2003
The Secretary of State for Transport, being a Minster designated1for the purposes of section 2(2) of the European Communities Act 19722in relation to compulsory insurance in respect of, and other means of providing for, civil liability in relation to motor vehicles and trailers, in exercise of the powers conferred by that section hereby makes the following Regulations:—
Citation and commencement
1. These Regulations may be cited as the Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (Information Centre and Compensation Body) Regulations 2003 and shall come into force on 19th January 2003.
Interpretation
2.—(1) In these Regulations—
“claims representative” means, in the case of an insurer carrying on the business of effecting or carrying out a UK insurance policy, the person appointed to act as such by that insurer in each EEA State other than the United Kingdom with responsibility and authority for handling and settling claims arising from accidents of the kind mentioned in Article 1(2) of the fourth motor insurance directive;
“compensation body” means the body named in regulation 9;
“EEA State” means a State which is a Contracting Party to the Agreement on the European Economic Area signed at Oporto on 2nd May 19923and the Protocol adjusting the Agreement signed at Brussels on 17th March 1993;
“European insurance policy” means an insurance policy issued in an EEA State fulfilling the requirements of Article 3 of the first motor insurance directive where the territory in which the vehicle the use of which is insured is normally based is an EEA State other than the United Kingdom;
“first motor insurance directive” means Council Directive 72/166/EECof 24 April 1972 on the approximation of the laws of the 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 liability4;
“fourth motor insurance directive” means the Directive of the European Parliament and the Council of 16 May 2000 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles and amending Council Directives 73/239/EECand 88/357/EEC(No. 2000/26/EC)5;
“foreign compensation body” means a person or body established or approved (by virtue of Article 6(1) of the fourth motor insurance directive) in an EEA State other than the United Kingdom to fulfil like functions to the compensation body;
“foreign information centre” means a person or body established or approved as an information centre in an EEA State other than the United Kingdom by virtue of Article 5(1) of the fourth motor insurance directive;
“guarantee fund” means the Motor Insurers' Bureau (a company limited by guarantee and incorporated under the Companies Act 1929 on 14th June 1946);
“information centre” means the body named in regulation 3(1);
“injured party” means a person resident in an EEA State claiming to be entitled to compensation in respect of any loss or injury resulting from an accident caused by or arising out of the use of a vehicle;
“registered keeper” in relation to a vehicle means the person who is registered as the keeper under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 19946or, in the case of vehicles in the public service of the Crown which are not registered under that Act, the person who has charge of the vehicle;
“MIB” means the Motor Insurers' Bureau (a company limited by guarantee and incorporated under the Companies Act 1929 on 14th June 1946);
“MIICMIIC” means the Motor Insurers' Information Centre (a company limited by guarantee and incorporated under the Companies Act 1985 on 8th December 1998);
“open cover contract” means a UK insurance policy where the vehicles covered are not specifically identified in the contract or the covering note;
“second motor insurance directive” means the Second Council Directive 84/5/EECof 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 vehicles7;
“specified information” means the information referred to in regulation 4;
“standard contract” means a UK insurance policy where every vehicle covered is specifically identified in the contract or the covering note;
“subscribing State” means a State other than an EEA State whose national insurer’s bureau as defined in Article 1(3) of the first motor insurance directive has joined the Green Card System;
“UK insurance policy” means a policy of insurance (including a covering note) covering the use of a vehicle on a road or other public place in the United Kingdom which—
(a) fulfils the requirements of section 145 of the Road Traffic Act 19888, or article 92 of the Road Traffic (Northern Ireland) Order 19819, and
(b) in the case of a policy of insurance complying with article 92 of the 1981 Order, is issued by an insurer within the meaning of article 12 of that Order;
“vehicle” means any motor vehicle intended for travel on land and propelled by mechanical power, but not running on rails, and any trailer, whether or not coupled.
(2) In these Regulations a reference (however phrased) to a place where a vehicle is normally based is a reference to—
(a)
(a) the territory of the state of which the vehicle bears a registration plate, or
(b)
(b) in cases where no registration is required for the type of vehicle but the vehicle bears an insurance plate or a distinguishing sign analogous to a registration plate, the territory of the state in which the insurance plate or the sign is issued, or
(c)
(c) in cases where neither registration plate nor insurance plate nor distinguishing sign is required for the type of vehicle, the territory of the state in which the keeper of the vehicle is permanently resident.
The Information centre
The information centre for the United Kingdom and its duties
3.—(1) MIICMIIC is approved as the information centre for the United Kingdom for the purposes of the fourth motor insurance directive10.
(2) The information centre shall establish a means of access to the specified information in a manner whereby it can co-ordinate and disseminate that information for the purposes of these Regulations.
(3) The information centre shall retain access to the specified information for a period of not less than seven years commencing on—
(a)
(a) in the case of the information specified in regulation 4(a), (c) and (d), the date on which the vehicle ceases to be registered under the Vehicle Excise and Registration Act 1994, and
(b)
(b) in the case of the information specified in regulation 4(b), the day immediately following the date of expiry of the policy of insurance to which that information relates.
(4) Where the information necessary to enable the information centre to respond to a request from a person under regulation 9 does not form part of the specified information, the information centre shall obtain from the foreign information centre of the territory in which the vehicle is normally based such information as may from time to time be required so as to enable the information centre to comply with regulation 9.
(5) Where the information centre is satisfied that a valid request for the name and address of the registered keeper of a vehicle has been made to it pursuant to regulation 9 it shall immediately seek the information from the Secretary of State.
(6) The information centre shall co-operate with every foreign information centre to the extent necessary to enable those centres to discharge their functions under the fourth motor insurance directive.
The specified information
4. The specified information is—
(a) a list of all vehicles normally based in the United Kingdom the names and addresses of their registered keepers and the registration marks assigned to them by the Secretary of State;
(b) the following information in relation to every UK insurance policy under which the use of any such vehicle is insured—
(i) the number of the policy,
(ii) the name of the policyholder,
(iii) the name and address of the insurer,
(iv) the names and addresses of that insurer’s claims representatives, and
(v) the period during which the use of the vehicle is insured under that contract;
(c) a list of all vehicles which take advantage of the derogation provided in Article 4(a) of the first motor insurance directive (so that they may lawfully be used on a road or other public place in the United Kingdom without there being in force any policy of insurance), and the registration marks assigned to them;
(d) the name and address of the person or body designated as responsible for compensating an injured party (in cases where the procedure provided for in the first indent of Article 2(2) of the first motor insurance directive is not applicable) if an accident is caused by or arises out of the use of a vehicle named in the list kept under sub-paragraph (c).
Maintenance and supply of information by insurers
5.—(1) Every insurer shall maintain a record of the information set out in Part 1 of the Schedule to these Regulations for the period specified in regulation 3(3).
(2) Where the information centre so requests an insurer shall supply to it immediately such of that information as may be specified in that request in respect of any UK insurance policy to which that insurer is or was a party.
(3) The information requested—
(a)
(a) shall be supplied in the manner specified in the request, or
(b)
(b) where no manner of supply...
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