Article 2. Definitions

REPUBLIC OF LITHUANIA

LAW ON COMPULSORY INSURANCE AGAINST CIVIL LIABILITY IN RESPECT OF THE USE OF MOTOR VEHICLES

14 June 2001 No IX-378

Vilnius

(Last amended on 17 November 2011 - No XI-1671)

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Objective and Purpose of the Law

1. The objective of this Law shall be to establish the legal framework and principles for the functioning of the system of compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of use of motor vehicles.

2. The provisions of this Law shall apply to any motor vehicle subject to insurance, which is intended for travel on land, as well as mopeds, trailers and semi-trailers, with the exception of motor vehicles running on rails (hereinafter referred to as “motor vehicles”).

3. The provisions of this Law shall not apply where motor vehicles are used in airports, in other closed-type territories restricted for public road traffic or autodromes for sport competitions, for practicing, for exhibitions or driving training.

4. The Law shall not apply with respect to motor vehicles, which belong to military units and are used by them, by military personnel and by civil servants assigned to military forces if all of the following conditions are satisfied:

1) military forces, military personnel and civil servants assigned to military forces enter from other states that are, together with the Republic of Lithuania, parties to international treaties regarding the status of forces;

2) international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania establishes a procedure of compensation for damage which is different from that laid down in this Law;

3) military forces, military personnel and civil servants assigned to military forces are allowed to enter the Republic of Lithuania in accordance with the procedure established in the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania.

5. The damage caused by motor vehicles listed in paragraph 4 of this Article in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania shall be compensated in accordance with the procedure established in international treaties of the Republic of Lithuania and in the legal acts of the Republic of Lithuania.

6. The provisions of the Law on Insurance shall apply to the relations regulated by this Law to the extent that this Law does not provide otherwise.

7. The provisions of this Law shall implement the legal acts of the European Union listed in the Annex to this Law.

Article 2. Definitions

1. “The Council of Bureaux” means a body performing the functions of a coordinator of the Green Card System, which unites the national insurers’ bureaux of all the states belonging to this System.

2. “Compensation” means an amount of money or any other agreed form of payment payable by the insurer or the Bureau of Insurers of Motor vehicles of the Republic of Lithuania to the injured third party to compensate for personal injury, damage to property and (or) non-pecuniary damage.

3. “Insured event” means a road accident, which leads to the obligation to pay compensation under this Law.

4. “Declaration of a road accident” means a form filled in and signed at the place of a road accident by the users of the motor vehicles involved in the road accident (hereinafter referred to as “persons involved in a road accident”); the fact of the road accident is recorded, the circumstances are described and the scheme is drawn in the said form.

5. “Damage of a road accident (hereinafter referred to as “damage”) ” means damage caused in a road accident to the property of the injured third party and (or) non-pecuniary damage or damage that arises later as a consequence of a road accident.

6. “Compensation body” means a body set up in the manner established by the legal acts of a Member State of the European Union which is responsible in accordance with the legal acts of the State in which this body functions for compensating injured third parties where a road accident occurs in a Member State of the European Union other than the Member State in which the injured third party is permanently resident or in a foreign state if its national insurers’ bureau is a member of the Green Card system.

7. “Member State of the European Union” means the Republic of Lithuania or any other Member State of the European Union. For the purpose of this Law, “Member State of the European Union” shall also mean member countries of the European Economic Area.

8. “Territory in which the motor vehicle is normally based” means:

1) the territory of the State of which the motor vehicle bears a permanent or temporary state number plate or registration plate (hereinafter referred to as a “state number plate”);

2) where no registration is required for certain types of motor vehicle, the territory of the State in which an insurance plate or a distinguishing sign analogous to the state number plate is issued;

3) where neither a state number plate, nor an insurance plate, nor a distinguishing sign analogous to the state number plate is required for certain types of motor vehicle, the territory of the State in which the person who has custody of motor vehicle is permanently resident;

4) where the motor vehicle, which must bear a state number plate, does not bear it or bears a state number plate which does not correspond or no longer corresponds to the motor vehicle, the territory of the State in which an accident took place.

9. “Standard contract of compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of use of motor vehicles (hereinafter referred to as “the standard insurance contract”) ” means a contract of compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles concluded with respect to a motor vehicle normally based in the territory of the Republic of Lithuania.

10. “Another Member State of the European Union” means a Member State of the European Union other than the Republic of Lithuania.

11. “Reasoned reply to the claim” means a proposal presented with the aim to settle claims of an insurer, a representative of the insurer or a proposal by the Bureau to the injured third party presented, within the time limit set by this Law, with regard to the payment of compensation or a reasoned reply and evidence releasing from the payment of compensation or entitling to reduce the compensation payable.

12. “National insurers’ bureau” means an organisation which established in accordance with Recommendation No 5 adopted on 25 January 1949 by the Road Transport Sub-committee of the Inland Transport Committee of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and which groups together insurance undertakings which are authorized to conduct the business of compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles in that state. The Motor Insurers’ Bureau of the Republic of Lithuania shall be the national insurers’ bureau in Lithuania.

13. “Regulations on Cooperation of the National Insurers’ Bureaux (hereinafter referred to as “the Regulations on Cooperation”) ” means the rules relating to mutual relations of the national insurers’ bureaux, approved by the Council of Bureaux.

14. “Non-pecuniary damage of a road accident (hereinafter referred to as “non-pecuniary damage”) ” means physical pain, mental suffering, inconveniences, mental shock, emotional depression, humiliation, impairment of reputation, diminution of possibilities to associate with others and other non-pecuniary consequences arising from personal injury of health or loss of life in a road accident.

15. “Injured third party” means a person who has suffered damage during a road accident and who is therefore entitled to compensation in accordance with the procedure established in this Law.

16. “Contract of compulsory frontier insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles (hereinafter referred to as “the frontier insurance contract”) ” means a contract of compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of use of motor vehicles concluded where the user intends to participate in the road traffic of a Member State of the European Union with a motor vehicle that is normally based in the territory of a foreign state, if the user of such motor vehicle does not have any other contract of compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles in force in the Republic of Lithuania.

17. “User of a motor vehicle” means a person who owns and/or uses a motor vehicle on the basis of ownership, trust, rent, loan for use or any other legitimate basis. A natural person who drives a motor vehicle either legally or illegally shall also be considered as the user of motor vehicle.

18. “Insurer against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles (hereinafter referred to as “insurer”) ” means a person (an insurance undertaking of the Republic of Lithuania, an insurance undertaking of another Member State of the European Union implementing the right of establishment or the right to provide services in the Republic of Lithuania, or a branch of a foreign insurance undertaking established in the Republic of Lithuania) which, in accordance with the procedure established in legal acts, is entitled to conduct the business of compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles in the Republic of Lithuania and which is a member of the Bureau.

19. “Holder of the insurance policy against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles (hereinafter referred to as “policyholder”) ” means a person, under this Law responsible for the conclusion of a contract of compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of use of motor vehicles, who has approached himself or through his representative the insurer to conclude an insurance contract, or who has concluded such an insurance contract with the insurer.

20. “Motor vehicle covered by compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles (hereinafter referred to as “insured motor vehicle”) ” means a motor vehicle covered by a valid contract of compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles or any other insurance contract meeting the requirements of this Law.

21. “Foreign state” means a state other than a Member State of the European Union.

22. “Injury suffered by the injured third party (hereinafter referred to as “personal injury”)” means damage to health of an injured third party and/or damage incurred by loss of life. The size of damage to person shall be assessed in accordance with the procedure established by the law.

23. “Damage to property of the injured third party (hereinafter referred to as “damage to property”)” means damage to property of the injured third party. The size of damage to property shall be assessed in accordance with the procedure established by the law.

24. “Green Card” means an international certificate of insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles issued on behalf of a national insurers’ bureau participating in the Green Card system.

25. “Green Card system” means an international system of compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles.

26. Other terms in this Law shall be used within the meaning of the Law on Insurance and the Law on Traffic Safety.