For the Want of Certainty: Vnuk, Juliana and Andrade and the Obligation to Insure
| Published date | 01 November 2019 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12466 |
| Author | James Marson,Katy Ferris |
| Date | 01 November 2019 |
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Modern Law Review
DOI: 10.1111/1468-2230.12466
CASES
For the Want of Certainty: Vnuk,Juliana and Andrade
and the Obligation to Insure
James Marson∗and Katy Ferris†
In 2014, the Court of Justice of the European Union in Damijan Vnuk vZavarovalnica Triglav
extended the requirement for the owner of a motor vehicle to possess insurance cover where
the vehicle is used on a road or other public place to vehicles on private land. Beyond disquiet
as to this extension, there remains uncertainty at statutory and jurisprudential levels. According
to Fundo de Garantia Autom´
ovel vJuliana, immobilised vehicles stored on private land but which
are capable of being driven are subject to compulsory motor vehicle insurance whereas in
Andrade vCr´
edito Agr´
ıcola Seguros, insurance is required only where the vehicle is used as a
means of transport. Andrade appears overly restrictive and may operate to defeat the protections
of the Motor VehicleInsurance Directives. Clarification is needed, through a seventh MVID or
direction from the CJEU, asto the author ity of Andrade and the circumstances in which motor
vehicles must be insured.
THE LEGAL FRAMEWORK
The Road Traffic Act 1988 (RTA) is the principal legislative provision for
the regulation of the use of motor vehicles, offences, third party liabilities
and insurance. In most cases it ensures the blameless victims of the negligent
driving of motor vehicles have access to compensation. National law requires
the owners of vehicles to have, as a minimum, third party (liability) motor
insurance for vehicles used on a road or other public place.1Fur ther, for the
victims of uninsured or untraced drivers, the Second2Motor Vehicle Insurance
Directive (MVID) imposed an obligation on each Member State to establish
a guarantee fund to act as the insurer of last resort. In the UK, this position
is occupied by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) through two extra-statutor y
arrangements, the Uninsured Drivers Agreement 2015 (along with the Supple-
mentary Agreement concluded in 2017) and the Untraced Drivers Agreement
2017. The MIB and its Agreements established with the Secretary of State for
∗Sheffield Hallam University.
†The University of Nottingham. The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their helpful
comments and suggestions. Errors and omissions remain our own.
1 RTA, s 143.
2 Second Council Directive 84/5/EEC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States
relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the useof motor vehicles [1984] OJ LL8/17
(Second MVID).
C2019 The Authors. The Modern Law Review C2019 The Moder n LawReview Limited. (2019)82(6) MLR 1132–1145
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