Gábor Csonka and Others v Magyar Állam.

• Jurisdiction: European Union
• Court: Court of Justice (European Union)
• Writing for the Court: Berger
• ECLI: ECLI:EU:C:2013:512
• Date: 11 July 2013
• Docket Number: C‑409/11
• Procedure Type: Reference for a preliminary ruling

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT (First Chamber)

11 July 2013 ( *1 )

‛Use of motor vehicles — Insurance against civil liability — Directive 72/166/EEC — Article 3(1) — Directive 84/5/EEC — Article 1(4), first subparagraph — Insolvency of the insurer — No payment of compensation by the body providing compensation’

In Case C-409/11,

REQUEST for a preliminary ruling under Article 267 TFEU from the Fővárosi Bíróság (Hungary), made by decision of 12 July 2011, received at the Court on 1 August 2011, in the proceedings

Gábor Csonka,

Tibor Isztli,

Dávid Juhász,

János Kiss,

Csaba Szontágh

v

Magyar Állam,

THE COURT (First Chamber),

composed of A. Tizzano, President of the Chamber, E. Levits, J.-J. Kasel, M. Safjan and M. Berger (Rapporteur), Judges,

Advocate General: P. Mengozzi,

Registrar: C. Strömholm, Administrator,

having regard to the written procedure and further to the hearing on 26 September 2012,

after considering the observations submitted on behalf of:

— the Hungarian Government, by M.Z. Fehér, K. Veres and K. Szíjjártó, acting as Agents,

— the European Commission, by B. Simon, K.-P. Wojcik and K. Talabér-Ritz, acting as Agents,

after hearing the Opinion of the Advocate General at the sitting on 24 October 2012,

gives the following

Judgment

1 This request for a preliminary ruling concerns the interpretation of Article 3(1) of Council Directive 72/166/EEC of 24 April 1972 on the approximation of the laws of 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 (OJ, English Special Edition 1972 (II), p. 360), as amended by Directive 2005/14/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 May 2005 (OJ 2005 L 149, p. 14) (‘the First Directive’).

2 The request has been made in proceedings brought by Messrs Csonka, Isztli, Juhász, Kiss and Szontágh against the Magyar Állam (Hungarian State) concerning the liability which, according to the applicants, the Hungarian State incurs as a result of the incorrect transposition of that directive into Hungarian law.

Legal context

European Union law

3 European Union legislation on insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles was codified by Directive 2009/103/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 September 2009 relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles, and the enforcement of the obligation to insure against such liability (OJ 2009 L 263, p. 11). However, that directive was not in force at the time of the facts in the case before the referring court, to which the directives in force before that codification are therefore applicable, in particular the First Directive and Second Council Directive 84/5/EEC of 30 December 1983 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles (OJ 1984 L 8, p. 17), as amended by Directive 2005/14 (‘the Second Directive’).

The First Directive

4 It emerges from the second and third recitals in the preamble to the First Directive that that directive was adopted because of the fact that frontier controls of insurance cover against civil liability in respect of the use of motor vehicles, the purpose of which was to safeguard the interests of persons who might be the victims of accidents caused by such vehicles, came about as a result of the disparities between national requirements in that field and that ‘these disparities [were] such as may impede the free movement of motor vehicles and persons within the Community’, thus having ‘a direct effect on the establishment and functioning of the common market’. The fifth recital to the First Directive emphasised the need for ‘measures [to] be taken further to liberalise the rules regarding the movement of persons and motor vehicles travelling between Member States’.

5 To that end, Article 3(1) of the First Directive provided: ‘Each Member State shall, subject to Article 4, take all appropriate measures to ensure that civil liability in respect of the use of vehicles normally based in its territory is covered by insurance. The extent of the liability covered and the terms and conditions of the cover shall be determined on the basis of these measures.’

6 Article 4 of the First Directive made it possible for Member States to derogate from Article 3 of that directive in respect of vehicles belonging to certain persons, or certain types of vehicle, or vehicles having a special plate.

The Second Directive

7 The sixth recital to the Second Directive stated that ‘it is necessary to make provision for a body to guarantee that the victim will not remain without compensation where the vehicle which caused the accident is uninsured or unidentified; … it is important, without amending the provisions applied by the Member States with regard to the subsidiary or non-subsidiary nature of the compensation paid by that body and to the rules applicable with regard to subrogation, to provide that the victim of such an accident should be able to apply directly to that body as a first point of contact’ and that ‘… however, Member States should be given the possibility of applying certain limited exclusions as regards the payment of compensation by that body and of providing that compensation for damage to property caused by an unidentified vehicle may be limited or excluded in view of the danger of fraud’. The eighth recital to that directive added that ‘in order to alleviate the financial burden on that body, Member States may make provision for the application of certain excesses where the body provides compensation for damage to property caused by uninsured vehicles or, where appropriate, vehicles stolen or obtained by violence’.

8 Article 1(1) and (4) of the Second Directive provided: ‘1. The insurance referred to in Article 3(1) of [the First Directive] shall cover compulsorily both damage to property and personal injuries. … 4. Each Member State shall set up or authorise a body with the task of providing compensation, at least up to the limits of the insurance obligation for damage to property or personal injuries caused by an unidentified vehicle or a vehicle for which the insurance obligation provided for in paragraph 1 has not been satisfied. The first subparagraph shall be without prejudice to the right of the Member States to regard compensation by the body as subsidiary or non-subsidiary and the right to make provision for the settlement of claims between the body and the person or persons responsible for the accident and other insurers or social security bodies required to compensate the victim in respect of the same accident. However, Member States may not allow the body to make the payment of compensation conditional on the victim establishing in any way that the person liable is unable or refuses to pay.’

9 Articles 1(6) and 2 of the Second Directive allowed Member States to exclude the payment of compensation by the body set up in accordance with Article 1(4) thereof in certain cases or to provide, where that body had paid compensation, for the application of certain excesses.

10 Article 1(7) of the Second Directive provided that ‘[e]ach Member State shall apply its laws, regulations and administrative provisions to the payment of compensation by the body, without prejudice to any other practice which is more favourable to the victim’.

Hungarian law

11 Under Paragraphs 14 and 15 of Government Decree No 190/2004 on compulsory insurance against civil liability in respect of the use of motor...