During the parallel operation of the Uniform Agreement and its further development, the Multilateral Guarantee Agreement the idea of unification of the two agreements was first raised in 1999. The differences in the texts and as a consequence of this the different interpretations underlined the necessity of the unification.

A Working Group was founded for this aim which – considering the results of consultations with the members – finally created the new unified agreement called “Internal Regulations”.

In the Internal Regulations the unification of different definitions have been achieved, the text has become simpler and more comprehensive, further the definitions used are compatible with those of the EU directives. The Internal Regulations is a basic document consisting of the general rules and the optional parts. Further changes can be realised without resigning of the agreement. The Internal Regulations – the new unified agreement – replacing the former agreements came into effect on July 1st 2003.

The provisions of the new agreement should be applied from the date mentioned above and it applies to the new claims and to claims already under handling as well.

Beside the mentioned changes and more detailed regulations the main new feature of the agreement to be stressed is that the regulations regarding the reimbursement between the bureaux of the claims settled have changed and have become significantly stricter. The deadlines prescribed for the bureaux, their members or correspondents have become shorter and are partly resulting in a loss of rights.

The signature of this new multilateral agreement means that the 18 countries (member countries of the European Economic Area being obliged by the directive of the Union anyway) and the rest of the member countries undertook the guarantee that their relations and the accounting will be based on the insurance cover deemed to exist, with the elimination of the usage of the Green Card. This means that – considering its contents – this practice is identical to that of the Multilateral Guarantee Agreement.