"Green Card" insurance certificate

The international Green Card insurance certificate is a specific insurance document officially recognized by the governmental authorities of the countries that have adopted the United Nations Recommendation. It represents, in each visited country, proof of the compulsory civil liability insurance for damages resulting from the use of the vehicle mentioned in the certificate, in accordance with the applicable legal provisions in the visited country.

Green Card certificates are issued under the guarantee of the National Bureau, and their distribution is entrusted to the insurers who are members of this Bureau.

Each National Bureau offers a guarantee:

To its government, that the foreign insurer will comply with the current legislation of the country and will pay compensation to the victims of road accidents within the limits of the legal obligation;

To the Bureau of other member countries of the international Green Card system regarding the fulfillment of obligations by the insurer who insured the civil liability of the driver who caused the accident in their country.

The international Green Card insurance certificate in all countries has unified content and form.

Starting from July 1, 2020, the Council of Bureaus has authorized interested National Bureaus to issue Green Card insurance certificates not only on the characteristic green form of this system but also in black and white format, by direct transmission/electronic mail to the insured, of PDF files, which can subsequently be printed on paper, in black and white.

Beginning with January 1st, 2025, the electronic version of the Green Card insurance certificate displayed on any technical device (for example: smartphone, tablet, etc.) is applicable in the Green Card System. Thus, the use of Green Card insurance certificates in electronic PDF (digital) format by foreign drivers, as well as by drivers of vehicles registered in the Republic of Moldova, is allowed, without the obligation to print the document on paper. States wishing to maintain the issuance of certificates on green or white paper will not be prevented from doing so, however, the respective countries should accept Green Card insurance certificates displayed in PDF from visiting drivers.

At the same time, Green Card insurance certificates written or completed in handwriting are no longer issued from January 1st, 2025.

In the Republic of Moldova, the form and content of the insurance application, the MTPL insurance contract and the Green Card insurance certificate are approved by the Decision of the National Commission of Financial Market No. 24/1 of May 14, 2024 regarding the approval of the form and content of standard forms related to compulsory civil liability insurance for damage caused by vehicles and the instructions for completing them.

Green Card insurance certificates are issued for 3 territorial validity zones:

Zone 1 - Ukraine;

Zone 3 - all member states of the Green Card System.

For Zone 2 – the Green Card certificates are not issued since the Russian Federation and Belarus have been suspended from the Green card System.

Starting with January 14th, 2025, the partial liberalized regime for calculating MTPL insurance premiums was implemented by the entry into force of the National Bank of Moldova (NBM) Decision no. 301 of 28.11.2024 on the approval of the calculation of basic insurance premiums, rectification coefficients and reference premiums for compulsory domestic and external motor third party liability insurance. Thus, the NBM regulates the minimum reference tariffs for MTPL insurance, and insurers establish insurance premiums according to their own statistics and actuarial calculations, which cannot be lower than the applicable minimum ceiling, in accordance with the Methodology for calculating and applying basic insurance premiums and rectification coefficients for compulsory domestic and foreign motor third party liability insurance approved by NCFM Decision no. 31/2 of 15.06.2023.

The National Bank of Moldova or a company with recognized expertise in matter, contracted by the NBM, calculates at least once a year the reference premiums based on statistical data (cumulated per market), in accordance with the normative acts of NBM. The National Bank of Moldova publishes the reference premiums, the basic premiums and the correction coefficients in accordance with its normative acts.

A driver, a citizen of the Republic of Moldova who intends to take his vehicle outside the Republic of Moldova, will contract an external motor third-party liability Green Card insurance at any of the insurance companies licensed to practice external MTPL Green Card insurance, members of the NBMIM (see the list of full members).

In the event of an accident caused by the fault of the driver of the vehicle registered in the Republic of Moldova, holder of the Green Card insurance certificate, the compensation of the injured party, on behalf of and from the account of the insurer who issued the insurance certificate, will be carried out by the Bureau/correspondent in the country of the accident.