Agreement on Protection of Visitors
Agreement on Protection of Visitors has been created with an intention of the Council of Bureaux to facilitate application of 4th MID mechanisms to nationals of non-EU countries.
The Basic Agreement foresees possibility for injured party, once s/he is back to his/hers state of residence, to address the National Bureau of given country who consequently addresses the National Bureau of the country of accident with a request for:
Identification of the insurer of the involved vehicle (whom to present a claim for compensation) on the basis of the registration plate;
Identification of the driver or owner of the involved vehicle, however, only in the event that the insurer cannot be identified within a period of six weeks and provided that this is not contrary to national legislation;
Useful documents such as the police report which may prove helpful in the handling of a claim;
Details about any possible guarantee fund operating in the state in which the accident occurred and, wherever possible, an explanation of the assistance that is available.
The Basic Agreement is signed with the National Bureaux of Greece, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Croatia, Slovenia and Switzerland, as those are ones of the most frequently visited countries when it comes to Serbian nationals. There is an intention to cover the rest of the region, at least the part of it with language barriers in place. Of course, it depends on the interest of the respective national Bureaux as well.
Injured parties should present to the Bureau of their state of residence all of the documents in their possession related to accident, so that the identification of the insurer would be easier. Should they possess no documents whatsoever, it is important to note that the mechanism of the Agreement may be activated on the basis of offender’s registration plate number alone. There is a 6 weeks’ time limit for the National Bureau of the state of accident to respond to the query and provide info sought.
As soon as an insurer of the offender has been identified, injured party shall be able to submit a claim. An insurer shall therefrom act in accordance with its procedures and the Laws of the state of accident in order to investigate and establish necessary facts needed for the claim handling process and compensation resulting from it.
Association of Serbian Insurers cannot file a compensation claim on behalf of injured party. However, it would make the claim presentation easier, which is the very corner stone intention behind the Agreement.
