On the Need to Specify the Provisions of Article 36(1) and Article 52 of the Act of 22 May 2003 on Compulsory Insurance, the Insurance Guarantee Fund and the Polish Motor Insurers' Bureau

Abstract

Compulsory insurance, especially compulsory civil liability insurance, plays an immensely important social role by protecting the property interests of both injured parties and perpetrators themselves. The Compulsory Insurance Act has laid the foundations for the compulsory insurance system, by specifying, among others, the following issues: the definition of compulsory insurance, rules of concluding and performing compulsory insurance contracts, including sums guaranteed in insurance types listed in the Act, as well as the method of controlling the performance of the obligation to conclude insurance contracts. Given the considerable importance and popularity of this insurance type, it is vital that the provisions regulating the scope of liability of the insurer and of the Insurance Guarantee Fund, including the amount of the sum guaranteed, are designed precisely and unambiguously. However, the wording used by the legislator in Article 36(1) and Article 52 of the Compulsory Insurance Act: "The sum guaranteed cannot be lower than the equivalent in PLN [...]" is related to a legal problem whether insurance with a sum guaranteed that is higher than the amount indicated in the above-mentioned provisions is compulsory or whether it is rather voluntary in terms of the amount of the sum guaranteed exceeding the indicated amounts. The present article focuses on the analysis of the practices of concluding insurance contracts with the amount of cover higher than in the above-mentioned regulations, without indicating the limits determining the compulsory or voluntary nature of an insurance in question.