What is the Green Card System?
The Green Card System is a protection mechanism for the victims of road accidents caused by foreign vehicles when circulating abroad.
The aim of the system is to enable mandatory motor third party liability insurance issued in country A to be recognised in country B, ensuring that the vehicle in country A has insurance cover corresponding to at least the minimum third party liability in force in country B, whenever travelling to country B,.
Creation and objectives
This system was created in 1949 on the initiative of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) with the aim of facilitating cross-border traffic.
The Green Card System has the following objectives:
-
Facilitating the free movement of vehicles, ensuring that a driver resident in one of the countries in the system can move to another without having to take out a new insurance contract for each border crossing.
-
Raising the level of protection for injured parties by ensuring that when a foreign vehicle enters another country in the system, it at least has the guarantee of the mandatory third party liability insurance in force in the visited country.
How does it work?
The Green Card System depends on the existence of:
- A Green Card Bureau, established in each country that is a member of the system, in order to ensure that the injured party in a road accident caused by a foreign vehicle (from another country that is also a member of the system) can be compensated in the country where the accident occurred, in accordance with that country’s legislation.
The Bureau of the country where the accident occurred (“Handling Bureau”) may then recover the compensation paid from the Bureau of the country of origin of the vehicle that caused the accident (“Guaranteeing Bureau”).
In Portugal, GPCV is the competent authority.
- A valid Green Card issued by the Green Card Bureau of the country of the vehicle or under the responsibility of and authorised by that Bureau.
The Green Card also provides the visited country – B – with a guarantee that the Insurer in country A will reimburse in accordance with the legislation in force and the limits of the insurance cover in the visited country – B.
Members of the Green Card System
The Green Card system is comprised of 46 Green Card Bureaux, representing more than 1,500 motor vehicle insurers in 50 countries in Europe, Northern Africa and the Middle East.
The GPCV is one of these members (Portugal joined the system in 1953).
Here they are, in alphabetical order:
Albania, Andorra, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Iran, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
The Green Card
The widely known Green Card is an international insurance certificate accepted by the authorities of the 50 countries in the system. The current name of this document is International Motor Insurance Certificate (IMIC).
It is a standard document issued by Insurers under the authorisation of the GPCV, which:
- Certifies that a visiting vehicle has at least the minimum mandatory motor third party liability insurance cover required by the legislation of the visited country.
- Guarantees the country visited that the insurer in the vehicle’s country of origin will reimburse the injured party’s damages in accordance with the rules applicable in the visited country.
The GPCV has decided to implement the International Insurance Certificate model in black on white, without any printing on the back, and the blank back cannot be used for any kind of information or advertising.
Our law determines the territorial scope of compulsory insurance, under which there are countries that cannot be crossed out on the Green Card. These are:
- The 27 countries of the European Union
- Three other countries in the European Economic Area: Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway
- And six other countries: Andorra, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, the United Kingdom, Serbia, Croatia, and Switzerland
All other countries, as they are not covered by the territorial scope of compulsory insurance, can be crossed out by insurers on the Green Card.
On the contrary, Russia, Belarus and Iran must currently be crossed ou on the Green Card, reflecting their suspension from membership of the Council of Bureaux.
Did you know that…?
From 11 July 2023, Green Cards can be issued and made available in digital format, but they can also be provided on paper at the insured or the policyholder’s request, at no additional cost. The Green Card issued electronically replaces the paper insurance certificate. This possibility, along with the elimination of the obligation to put the insurance sticker on the windshield of the vehicle, was introduced by Law no. 32/2023 of July 10.
The Internal Regulations
It is the document that brings together all the provisions governing the relationship between NNational Insurers’ Bureaux.
It was adopted by the General Assembly in Rethymno (Crete) on May 30, 2002.
The Internal Regulations have been revised and updated over the years and the latest version is available on the website of the Council of Bureaux.
Portugal, like 35 other countries, has signed up to section III of the Regulations, which lays out the specific rules on contractual relations between national services based on deemed insurance cover.
The Bureaux to which these rules apply ensure, on a fully reciprocal basis, the reimbursement of all sums due as a result of an accident involving a vehicle normally based in the territory of the State for which each of these Bureaux is competent, regardless of whether the vehicle is insured or not.
In these countries, the International Insurance Certificate (IMIC is not required as proof of insurance.
- In countries which are signatories to the Multilateral Agreement (Section III of Internal Regulations), you do not need to take your Green Card, as it is not a mandatory document.
- For all the other countries, it is necessary to take your Green Card with you, either printed on paper or in digital format (PDF), as it is now possible to show it to police or border authorities electronically (as a precaution, in case your mobile phone is lost or runs out of battery, it is recommended that you always carry a printed copy of your Green Card with you).
