Innovation in compulsory insurance of civil liability of vehicle owners

Extracts for legal literacy News

The Law of the DPR “On Amendments to the Law of the Donetsk People’s Republic “On Compulsory Insurance of Civil Liability of Vehicle Owners” and to Article 1 of the Law of the Donetsk People’s Republic “On Road Traffic” came into force.

The changes affected the provisions regarding the obligations of vehicle owners for civil liability insurance, base rates and coefficients of insurance rates, the duration of the compulsory insurance contract, obtaining and determining the amount of insurance payment, making insurance payments, the procedure for implementing compulsory insurance, specifics of resolving disputes over compulsory insurance contracts, requirements to the insurer, etc.

In this context, the following innovations deserve attention.

In particular, it is legally established that when the right to own a vehicle arises (acquiring it into ownership, receiving it into economic or operational management, or on any other legal basis), the vehicle owner is obliged to insure his civil liability after the vehicle is registered, but no later than after ten days after the occurrence of the right of ownership to it.

Also, the specified act provides that at the entrance to the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic, the owner of a vehicle registered in a foreign state is obliged to insure his civil liability no later than one business day from the day of crossing the border of the Donetsk People’s Republic for the entire period of stay in the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

At the same time, in accordance with paragraph 1 of Clause 3 of Article 9 of the Law, the owner of a vehicle has the right to conclude a compulsory insurance contract for a period not exceeding twenty days in the absence of the documents specified in paragraph 6 of Clause 3 of Article 14 of the Law, in case of acquisition a vehicle (purchase, inheritance, acceptance as a gift and in other cases stipulated by law) to follow to the place of registration of the vehicle. In this case, the owner of the vehicle after its registration is obliged to conclude a compulsory insurance contract for one year in accordance with the provisions of Clause 1 of the Article.

Application of a deductible by insurers when reimbursing losses to the insurants or another person was excluded by the amendments, and individuals are excluded from the list of categories entitled to act as insurance agents.

In addition, in the case of damage to property, in order to clarify the circumstances of the damage and determine the amount of losses which subject to compensation by the insurer, the opportunity is given to the victim for conducting an independent examination.

We would also like to draw attention to the extension of the moratorium (prohibition) period on bringing to justice persons who do not have an OSAGO insurance policy until 1 August 2020. That is, from this date, administrative liability will be provided for non-compliance with the requirements for compulsory civil liability insurance of vehicle owners, which, depending on the violation, entails the imposition of an administrative fine in the amount of 500 to 5000 Russian rubles.