Green Card

The Green Card or the International Insurance Certificate is and insurance agreement that is signed for a vehicle registered in Latvia and participating in road traffic in a country that is a member state of the Green Card system.

The Green Card is a type of Compulsory Civil Liability Insurance of Owners of Motor Vehicles that provides the same compensation of losses as MTPL Standard Agreement, but these types of agreements have different territories of validities, i.e., there are member states of the Green Card system in which the MTPL Standard Agreement is valid as well, and there are member states of the Green Card system in which the MTPL Standard Agreement is not valid and when visiting them by car, the Green Card must be purchased.

Within the Green Card, a person that has been involved in a traffic accident and has not been found guilty of causing the accident is eligible to receive compensation. These individuals can be:

• vehicle owners or drivers
• passengers, even if at the time of the accident they were in the vehicle that caused the traffic accident
• pedestrians and cyclists
• individuals whose property has been damaged

More detailed information on the rights to receive MTPL compensation is available on the website of Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Latvia (LTAB).

Losses under the Green Card are compensated according to the “Compulsory Civil Liability Insurance of Owners of Motor Vehicles Law”

Under the Green Card the same losses are compensated as under Standard MTPL Agreement:

• Material losses of a third party due to a road traffic accident
• Intangible losses of a third party due to a traffic accident
• Damage to the property, including the vehicle, of a third party due to a road a traffic accident

The Green Card is necessary if you plan to go by car to Albania, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran, Israel, Russia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, or to traverse any of these countries.

The Green Card can be purchased for the period of validity starting from 15 days to 12 months.

The Green Card can be purchased in the following ways:

• by filling out the application form on the website of BTA, you can find out the price of the policy, but to receive the Green Card you will have to visit the nearest BTA Customer Service Centre;
• by calling the BTA Customer Support Service at 26 12 12 12 you can find out the price of the policy but to receive the Green Card you will have to visit the nearest BTA Customer Service Centre;
• by visiting BTA Customer Service Centre in person;
• by contacting BTA agents, insurance brokers.

If someone is injured in the traffic accident, act as follows:

1. To the extent possible, give first aid to the injured person, but immediately contact the State Emergency Medical Service by calling 113 or 03;
2. Call the traffic police at 110 or 02;
3. For the clarification of the circumstances of a traffic accident photos can be useful as well so, if possible, take photos of the vehicles right after the accident, without changing their location, and, if possible, record the contacts of the eyewitnesses.
4. If you have BTA MTPL policy, regardless of whether you are guilty of the caused traffic accident or not, immediately contact the BTA Customer Support Service at 26 12 12 12 to inform about the traffic accident and receive instructions for further actions;
5. If you have BTA MTPL policy, Green Card or Border agreement and you have suffered losses because of another participant of the traffic, then to file the insurance claim you must contact the insurance company that has issued MTPL policy to the owner of the vehicle who has caused the traffic accident. The responsible insurer can be identified using the registration number of the vehicle in the section “Find responsible insurer” on the webpage of Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Latvia;
6. If you have suffered losses in a traffic accident caused by a vehicle owner that has BTA MTPL policy, Green Card or Border agreement, file the insurance claim as soon as possible.

If nobody is injured in the traffic accident, act as follows

1. if only two vehicles are involved in the accident, and both drivers can come to an agreement on the circumstances of the traffic accident, no damage has been done to third party’s property and the vehicles do not have such damage that forbids to drive them, fill out the coordinated accident statement. You will find more information on the completion of the coordinated accident statement as well as a short video here. You must keep a copy of the completed coordinated accident statement so that you could submit it to the insurer. The party at fault has to submit the coordinated accident statement to his insurer within 10 days;
2. For the clarification of the circumstances of a traffic accident photos can be useful as well so, if possible, take photos of the vehicles right after the accident, without changing their location, and, if possible, record the contacts of the eyewitnesses. Later you will attach the photos to the coordinated accident statement, when filing the insurance claim.
3. If there are conditions that do not allow to fill out the coordinated accident statement, call the traffic police at 110 or 02.
4. If you have BTA MTPL policy, Green Card or Border agreement, regardless of whether you are guilty of the caused traffic accident or not, immediately contact the BTA Customer Support Service at 26 12 12 12 to inform about the traffic accident and receive instructions for further actions;
5. If you have BTA MTPL policy, Green Card or Border agreement and you have suffered losses because of another participant of the traffic, then to file the insurance claim you must contact the insurance company that has issued MTPL policy to the owner of the vehicle who has caused the traffic accident.
6. If you have suffered losses in a traffic accident caused by a vehicle owner that has BTA MTPL policy, Green Card or Border agreement, file the insurance claim as soon as possible.

If the traffic accident has taken place abroad, in any of the Green Card system member state that is not a member state of the European Economic Area, the people involved in the traffic accident have to report the accident to the traffic police and the country’s Green Card bureau. The addresses and phone numbers of the Green Card Bureaus of the member states of the Green Card system are indicated on the other side of the Green Card policy form. If the responsibility of the vehicle owner who has caused the traffic accident is insured by an European Economic Area insurance company, the losses are compensated by its authorized representative in the Republic of Latvia or, if such does not exist, by the Motor Insurers’ Bureau of Latvia.

Compulsory Civil Liability Insurance of Owners of Motor Vehicles Law
(in force from 01.05.2004.)

Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers No 340 “Regulations on the amount of the insurance claim and procedure of calculation for non-material losses caused to a person”
(in force from 11.07.2014.)

Regulations of the Cabinet of Ministers No 1008 “Regulations on the amount of the insurance claim and procedure of calculation for material losses caused to a person”
(in force from 18.12.2004.)