News

Coris News May 2007

Welcome to this year's second edition of Coris News.

Spotlight on: Romania

In this edition we move on to another new member of the EU, Romania.

Romania's capital city is Bucharest, with a population of 1,900 000. Romania, with a total population of 21.6 million is estimated to have 3.5-4 million vehicles. 25% of these are thought to be uninsured. Romania is currently undergoing a re-registration scheme which is expected to reduce this to around 12.5%.

Third party insurance is required for self propelled vehicles as well as trailers. Trailers must have a separate registration number and a separate insurance policy.

Liability

Minimum limits of Insurance cover are as follows:
Personal Injury: €500,000, including dependent claims ,if any (regardless of the number of injured persons)
Material Damages: €100,000 (regardless of the number of Claimants)

The Multilateral Agreement has not yet been signed, meaning Section III of the Internal Regulations and any 4th Directive provisions are currently not in force for Romania.

Liability is established exclusively by the Police. All accidents must be notified to the responsible police station (even for minor claims). The liable party may appeal within fifteen days from the date the police report was issued. If the liable party agrees with the content, he signs the
report. The Government is presenting a bill to Parliament this year to introduce the Agreed Statement of Facts. More news on this will follow.

Limitation

All claims for compensation for material damages and Personal Injury are subject to a 3 year limitation period. Limitation can be interrupted when the Defendant makes an offer to the Claimant or by Proceedings being issued.

Guarantee Fund

The Guarantee fund compensates injured third parties in the following cases:

i) when the damage is caused by an untraced vehicle, the Fund covers only personal injury.
ii) when the damage is caused by an uninsured vehicle, the Fund covers both personal injury and material damage. Material damage claims are subject to a €100.00 excess.

Legal costs

As in Bulgaria, costs follow the event and are assessed by the Court. An insurer is not liable to pay legal costs unless it has been notified of the Proceedings.

General

Loss of use or hire of an alternative vehicle cannot be claimed unless it can be proven that the vehicle was used solely for professional reasons. Depreciation of value following repairs cannot be claimed.

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