Yerevan/Mediamax/. Central Bank of Armenia presented today the peculiarities of the Armenian model of Compulsory insurance of vehicle owner civil liability (CIVOCL).

On January 1, 2011, the law on compulsory insurance of vehicle owner civil liability will come into effect in Armenia. The process of concluding insurance agreements will start on October 1 and will last till the end of 2010.

Mediamax reports that, speaking at a seminar in Yerevan today, Head of Development Division of CB Department for Financial System and Financial Stability Policy Anna Vardikyan noted that Armenia chose the Green Card model, adopted by all EU countries and allowing efficiently solving the main task of introducing CIVOCL, namely provision of social protection.

“As a prospect, we consider Armenia’s membership in Green Card system, which will facilitate movement of vehicles from country to country and will provide for insurance protection of people, who bear damage from foreign transport means”, Anna Vardikyan stated. 

Head of Consumer Right Protection and Market Behavior Division of CB’s Financial System and Financial Stability Policy Department Armenuhi Mkrtchyan stated that the Armenian model for CIVOCL provides for compensation of personal and property damage only for the third party (pedestrian, the driver of the other car, the passenger). She noted that compulsory insurance in Armenia will be meant for owners, importers and leaseholders (in case of financial rent) of transport means.

The minimum term for the agreement for CIVOCL makes 3 months, and the maximum term – 1 year. The special 10 day term of agreement is meant for cars, imported under the order of temporary import and transit, as well as for legal entities and private entrepreneurs, who import cards for sale.

CIVOCL will compensate for the damage to health and property of the injured party. At that, the damage, caused as a result of criminal and military actions, mass unrest is not compensated for. They do not compensate for the damage, caused to nature, damage, caused to artwork and expensive jewelry and cargoes either.

The size of insurance fee is determined by the insurance company, and the maximum and the minimum size is established by the “Bureau of Car Insurers of Armenia”. Irrespective of the volume of damage, caused as a result of a traffic accident, the size of compensation may be within the limits of maximum insurance sum, which in case of personal damage equals to 3mln AMD (for each injured) and 9mln AMD (for each traffic accident). In case of property damage, the maximum size of compensation makes 1.5mln AMD.

After concluding the agreement, the drivers will be provided a coupon for CIVOCL, which should be necessarily attached to the windscreen of the car. It is notable that in cases, when there are two cars participating in the traffic accident and the damage is caused only to property, drivers may come to an agreement among themselves, if the cost of the damage compensation does not exceed 200 thousand AMD. One will only need to fill in the coordinated declarations and present them to the insurance company. In other cases, the property damage is evaluated by the expert of the Bureau of Car Insurers, and the personal damage will be evaluated by the expert of a medical establishment or a bureau.

CB representatives urged citizens to start the process of insurance from October in order to avoid lines by the end of December. From the beginning of next year, drivers, who will not have their cars insured, will be fined at the volume of 50 thousand AMD.

Armenuhi Mkrtchyan noted that the process of concluding an agreement on compulsory CIVOCL will take no more than 20 minutes if there are no lines.