With a permanent location in London (and co-operating with the Economic Commission for Europe of the United Nations), the Council of Bureaux (CoB) is the main governing and representative body of the Green Card System. (established in November 1951.)

Its functions:

• Administering the agreements between the Green Card Bureaux,

• Finding solutions to the practical problems raised by any of the members related to the agreements between the Green Card Bureaux

• Acting as the court of arbitration in disputes between the Bureaux

• Co-ordinating with the Inland Transport Committee of the Economic Commission for Europe of the United Nations and other international organisations (such as the Commission of the European Insurers (Comité européen des assurances i.e. CEA) and the European Commission)

The operating rules of the Council of Bureaux are laid down in the Constitution of the CoB.

The operative issues and preparatory work needed for decision-making are undertaken by the secretariat of CoB as well as the various committees elected from the representatives of the Member States for a limited period. The main decision-making body of the CoB is the General Assembly, which is meeting annually since 1994 (its meetings were less frequent before 1994).

In June 1952 the resolution of the Inland Transport Committee established the Green Card System with the participation of eight countries with effect from 1st January 1953. The eight countries were: Austria, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland and the Federal Republic of Germany. Within a half-year, another four countries (Denmark, Norway, Finland, Ireland) joined this system. In the next few years, most European countries followed them. Hungary has been participating in the Green Card system since 1961.

As the years passed, the number of member countries of the Green Card system continuously increased.

In the recent years more and more Eastern European countries introduced the compulsory motor liability insurance and joined the system. To ensure the proper running of the Green Card System, the Council of Bureaux is stipulating stringent rules of admission. In the earlier years new members were provided with a transitional membership with limited rights for a period of two years. This has now been increased to four years. The activity of the transitional members is supported and controlled by a committee elected by the General Assembly of the Council of Bureaux.

Although it has been declared as a European system, nowadays some Non-European countries (such as Morocco, Tunisia, Israel and Iran) also became part of it, for economical, political and tourism-related reasons.

Compulsory motor liability insurance was established in Europe between the First and Second World Wars in order to ensure the necessary indemnity for the traffic victims.

As a result of the increasing number of motorists within the booming tourist industry considerations were already made prior to the Second World War on the perspective of the extension of the territorial coverage of insurance abroad.

Following the Second World War the recently established United Nations or rather its Economic Commission for Europe (UN EEC), situated in Geneva, started to deal with this issue. Their aim was twofold:

• To establish a system that would ensure that none of the traffic victims in European countries should get into a worse position just because the accident was caused by a motor vehicle registered abroad.

• To ensure that the entry of people to other countries by car should not be delayed because the prevailing insurance regulations within that country are different from those in their home country.

This problem could have been solved by the harmonisation of the liability insurance laws of the European countries, however, this could not be expected in the near future.

On 25th January 1949 the working group of the UN dealing with this subject, namely the Principal Working Party on Road Transport of the Inland Transport Committee of the Economic Commission for Europe of the United Nations drafted its Recommendation No. 5 suggesting the adoption of the Scandinavian model that was already running since 1926. Essentially, it has been recommended that central insurance organisations of countries with compulsory motor liability insurance should follow the Swedish pattern. This means introducing the Green Card as the certificate of liability insurance guarantee; and these organisations should conclude an agreement with each other enabling them to settle in lieu of the foreign insurance companies the losses caused by foreigners.

In case the loss was caused by the use of a motor vehicle of an uninsured user who had been obliged to conclude an insurance contract, the claimant is entitled to the same amount of indemnity – up to the coverage limits set by the law – as if any of the liability insurers would have to settle the loss on the basis of a valid insurance contract.

As per the definition determined by Act LXII of 2009  on Insurance Against Civil Liability in Respect of the Use of Motor Vehicles, the National Bureau is an organisation of Hungarian motor insurers providing compulsory motor liability insurance cover. This organisation is taking care of tasks related to co-ordination, the claims handling and settlements in the framework of the international Green Card System.

Compulsory motor liability insurance was established in Europe between the First and Second World Wars in order to ensure the necessary indemnity for the traffic victims.

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In June 1952 the resolution of the Inland Transport Committee established the Green Card System with the participation of eight countries with effect from 1st January 1953. The eight countries were: Austria, Belgium, France, Netherlands, Great Britain, Sweden, Switzerland and the Federal Republic of Germany. Within a half-year, another four countries (Denmark, Norway, Finland, Ireland) joined this system. In the next few years, most European countries followed them. Hungary has been participating in the Green Card system since 1961.

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With a permanent location in London (and co-operating with the Economic Commission for Europe of the United Nations), the Council of Bureaux (CoB) is the main governing and representative body of the Green Card System. (established in November 1951.)

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The Green Card Agreement is based on two principles:

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Due to the increase of the international motor vehicle traffic the idea to facilitate the operation of the system changed in spite of the satisfactory functioning of the Green Card system. The members of the Green Card system raised the idea of concluding supplementary agreements which are aimed at the elimination of producing and controlling the Green Card as a documentary evidence of the insurance cover.

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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.

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According to Directive 2009/103/EC (Motor Insurance Directive), every vehicle normally based in the territory of a third country must, before entering the territory of Hungary, be provided either with a valid Green Card or with a certificate of frontier insurance establishing that the vehicle is insured in accordance with the Directive.

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Hungarian Insurance Companies underwriting Motor Insurance

Claims Representatives of the Hungarian Insurance Companies

New Hungarian Registration Plates

In case the loss was caused by the use of a motor vehicle of an uninsured user who had been obliged to conclude an insurance contract, the claimant is entitled to the same amount of indemnity – up to the coverage limits set by the law – as if any of the liability insurers would have to settle the loss on the basis of a valid insurance contract.

The Hungarian Insurance Companies’ Yearbooks are prepared based on our members’ annual financial data. The goal of these Yearbooks is to provide information about the insurance companies’ annual results and to allow the reader to compare the industry’s trends and indicators historically.

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Since Q3 2000 on a quarterly and since 2017 on an annual basis, the Association of Hungarian Insurance Companies collects key data of the Hungarian insurance market and displays them on its website. Such key data are premium income by insurance type / major product categories and by company, and total premiums by insurance type, annual claim expenditure, closing portfolio and portfolio premiums.

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The Association of Hungarian Insurance Companies – in accordance with the law – publishes its annual reports (available only in Hungarian).

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