Article 2U.K.Amendments to Directive 84/5/EEC
Article 1 of Directive 84/5/EEC is replaced by the following:
‘Article 1
1.The insurance referred to in Article 3(1) of Directive 72/166/EEC shall cover compulsorily both damage to property and personal injuries.
2.Without prejudice to any higher guarantees which Member States may lay down, each Member State shall require insurance to be compulsory at least in respect of the following amounts:
(a)in the case of personal injury, a minimum amount of cover of EUR 1 000 000 per victim or EUR 5 000 000 per claim, whatever the number of victims;
(b)in the case of damage to property, EUR 1 000 000 per claim, whatever the number of victims.
If necessary, Member States may establish a transitional period of up to five years from the date of implementation of Directive 2005/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 amending Council Directives 72/166/EEC, 84/5/EEC, 88/357/EEC and 90/232/EEC and Directive 2000/26/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles(1), within which to adapt their minimum amounts of cover to the amounts provided for in this paragraph.
Member States establishing such a transitional period shall inform the Commission thereof and indicate the duration of the transitional period.
Within 30 months of the date of implementation of Directive 2005/14/EC Member States shall increase guarantees to at least a half of the levels provided for in this paragraph.
3.Every five years after the entry into force of Directive 2005/14/EC or the end of any transitional period as referred to in paragraph 2, the amounts referred to in that paragraph shall be reviewed, in line with the European Index of Consumer Prices (EICP), as set out in Council Regulation (EC) No 2494/95 of 23 October 1995 concerning harmonised indices of consumer prices(2).
The amounts shall be adjusted automatically. Such amounts shall be increased by the percentage change indicated by the EICP for the relevant period, that is to say, the five years immediately preceding the review, and rounded up to a multiple of EUR 10 000.
The Commission shall communicate the adjusted amounts to the European Parliament and the Council and shall ensure their publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
4.Each Member State shall set up or authorise a body with the task of providing compensation, at least up to the limits of the insurance obligation for damage to property or personal injuries caused by an unidentified vehicle or a vehicle for which the insurance obligation provided for in paragraph 1 has not been satisfied.
The first subparagraph shall be without prejudice to the right of the Member States to regard compensation by the body as subsidiary or non-subsidiary and the right to make provision for the settlement of claims between the body and the person or persons responsible for the accident and other insurers or social security bodies required to compensate the victim in respect of the same accident. However, Member States may not allow the body to make the payment of compensation conditional on the victim establishing in any way that the person liable is unable or refuses to pay.
5.The victim may in any event apply directly to the body which, on the basis of information provided at its request by the victim, shall be obliged to give him a reasoned reply regarding the payment of any compensation.
Member States may, however, exclude the payment of compensation by that body in respect of persons who voluntarily entered the vehicle which caused the damage or injury when the body can prove that they knew it was uninsured.
6.Member States may limit or exclude the payment of compensation by the body in the event of damage to property by an unidentified vehicle.
However, where the body has paid compensation for significant personal injuries to any victim of the same accident in which damage to property was caused by an unidentified vehicle, Member States may not exclude the payment of compensation for damage to property on the basis that the vehicle is not identified. Nevertheless, Member States may provide for an excess of not more than EUR 500 for which the victim of such damage to property may be responsible.
The conditions in which personal injuries are to be considered significant shall be determined in accordance with the legislation or administrative provisions of the Member State in which the accident takes place. In this regard, Member States may take into account, inter alia, whether the injury has required hospital care.
7.Each Member State shall apply its laws, regulations and administrative provisions to the payment of compensation by the body, without prejudice to any other practice which is more favourable to the victim.’
OJ L 257, 27.10.1995, p. 1. Regulation as amended by Regulation (EC) No 1882/2003 of the European Parliament and of the Council (OJ L 284, 31.10.2003, p. 1).’