Keywords
Summary

Keywords

++++

Approximation of laws ° Insurance against civil liability in respect of motor vehicles ° Directive 72/166 ° Territory in which a vehicle is normally based ° Meaning ° Vehicle bearing a registration plate duly issued in respect of another vehicle ° State of registration

(Council Directive 72/166, Art. 1(4), as amended by Directive 84/5)

Summary

Article 1(4) of Directive 72/166 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles, and to the enforcement of the obligation to insure against such liability, as amended by Directive 84/5, must be interpreted as meaning that a vehicle which, on crossing the frontier, bears a registration plate that was duly issued by the authorities of a Member State but is false by reason of the fact that it is in reality the registration plate allocated to another vehicle, is to be regarded as normally based in the territory of the State which issued the plate in question.

This interpretation does not prejudge the question as to which of the national bureaux must, under the agreement between them, bear the burden of paying damages to the victim of a traffic accident caused by a person driving a vehicle in the circumstances described above. The agreement between national central bureaux, although using the same terms as the directive, in fact remains an instrument governed by private law the interpretation of which is a matter for the national court alone.