The Green Card International Motor Insurance System (the "International System") was established in 1949 on the basis of the Recommendation of the Working Party on Road Transport of the Inland Transport Committee of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, which proposed that governments should contact insurers providing motor third party liability insurance to conclude agreements to create uniform and effective insurance conditions for cross-border traffic.
The international system operates in countries where:
- Motor third party liability insurance is mandatory;
- There is a National Bureau, which includes all insurers providing compulsory motor third party liability insurance;
- The legitimacy of the requirements of this system is officially recognised.
Ukraine has been a member of the International System since 1997.
Each National Bureau provides a guarantee:
- To its government that the foreign insurer will comply with the applicable laws of the country and pay compensation to victims of road accidents within the limits of liability established by law.
- Bureaus of other member states of the International System regarding the fulfilment of obligations by an insurer that has insured the civil liability of a driver who caused a road traffic accident in their country.
The Green Card international motor insurance certificate has a unified form in all countries. Its availability is a prerequisite for drivers planning to travel abroad in their own car to the member countries of the International System.
The insurance indemnity is paid on the terms and conditions set out in the legislation on compulsory motor third party liability insurance in the country where the accident occurred.
Each country that is a member of the International System has a National Bureau, which is the only competent organisation for all matters related to compensation for damage caused by a non-resident driver in the territory of such country.