Protection and Compensation Fund (Amendment) Regulations,

L.N. 229 of 2008

INSURANCE BUSINESS ACT

(CAP. 403)

Protection and Compensation Fund (Amendment) Regulations,

IN exercise of the powers conferred by article 51 of the Insurance

Business Act, the Minister of Finance, the Economy and Investment,

after consultation with the Malta Financial Services Authority, has made

the following regulations>-

(1) The title of these regulations is the Protection and Citation and

Compensation Fund (Amendment) Regulations, 2008, and they shall commencement.

be read and construed as one with the Protection and Compensation

Fund Regulations, 2003, hereinafter referred to as “the principal L.N. 435 of 2003.

regulations”.

(2) These regulations shall come into force on the 16th

September, 2008.

In sub-regulation (5) of regulation 6 of the principal Amends regulation

6 of the principal

regulations, for the words “may issue an insurance directive”, there regulations.

shall be substituted the words “may issue an insurance rule”.

Regulation 22 of the principal regulations shall be amended Amends regulation

22 of the principal

as follows>

regulations.

(a)

paragraph (a) thereof, shall be deleted<

(b) paragraphs (b) and (c) thereof, shall be renumbered as

paragraphs (a) and (b) respectively.

For the definition of “company” in sub-regulation (1) of Amends regulation

23 of the principal

regulation 23 of the principal regulations, there shall be substituted the regulations.

following>

“ “company” has the same meaning as is assigned to it by

the Act<”.

For regulation 26 of the principal regulations, there shall be Substitutes

regulation

substituted the following>

26 of the

principal

regulations.

“Other cases

(1) Payment of compensation in respect of civil

liability

to any person, caused by or arising out of the use of

compensation.

a motor vehicle, other than payment of compensation falling

within the provision of regulation 25, may be made out of

funds set aside by the Fund for the payment of compensation

relating to protected liabilities, if the following conditions

concur -

(a) the applicant for payment is unable to trace

any person responsible for the civil liability<

(b) the civil liability was caused in such

circumstances that on the balance of probabilities the

unidentified person would be liable to pay damages to

the applicant in respect of such civil liability<

(c) the liability of the unidentified person to pay

damages to the applicant is one which is required to be

covered by insurance or security under compulsory

insurance legislation, it being assumed for this purpose,

in the absence of evidence to the contrary, that the vehicle

was being used in circumstances in which the user was

required by the said legislation to be insured or secured

against third party risks<

(d) the civil liability was not caused by the use of

the vehicle by the unidentified person as a weapon, that

is to say in a deliberate attempt to run down the deceased

or injured person< and

(e) the application for compensation is made in

writing within two years from the date of the occurrence

of the accident giving rise to the civil liability.

(2) Where an application for compensation is

made under this regulation, the payment that may be made

by the Fund as aforesaid shall be of such amount as a court in

Malta applying Maltese law would assess as damages which

the applicant would have been entitled to recover from the

unidentified person in respect of that civil liability, if

proceedings to enforce a claim for damages in respect thereof

had been successfully brought by the applicant against the

unidentified person. The Fund shall only be liable to pay up

to such limits of liability as may be prescribed under

compulsory insurance legislation. The Fund when assessing

an application for compensation shall>

(a) have the power to require any applicant to

provide such information as it may deem necessary for

the purposes of determining an application for granting

compensation< and

(b) on the basis of information provided at its

request by the applicant, give him a reasoned reply

regarding the payment of any compensation.

(3) No payment under this regulation shall be

made unless -

(a) the applicant has given all such assistance,

including information required under subregulation (2)

as may reasonably be required by or on behalf of the

Fund to enable any investigation to be carried out< and

(b) the applicant has assigned to the Fund any

right to any payment in respect of the civil liability to

which his application relates.

(4) Payments relating to damage to property shall

only be made where the Fund has paid compensation for

significant personal injuries to victims of the same accident

in which damage to property was caused by the use of a vehicle

by an unidentified person. In such cases, the Fund shall apply

an excess of five hundred euro (¤500) for which the person

suffering such damage to property may be responsible.

(5) For the purposes of determining the conditions

in which personal injuries are to be considered “significant”,

there shall be taken into account, inter alia, whether the injury

has required hospital care.

(6) The Fund shall determine an application for

compensation under this regulation within three months of

receiving the information required to be submitted under this

regulation and if it refuses to effect compensation, it shall

inform the applicant in writing of the reasons for its refusal.”.

6. Regulation 28 of the principal regulations, shall be amended Amends regulation

28 of the principal

as follows>

regulations.

(a)

paragraph (a) thereof, shall be deleted<

(b) paragraphs (b) and (c) thereof, shall be renumbered as

paragraphs (a) and (b) respectively.

7. Regulation 30 of the principal regulations shall be amended

as follows>

(a) in the marginal note thereto, for the words “to issue

insurance directive and guidelines.”, there shall be substituted the

words “ to issue insurance rules.”< and

(b) for the words “insurance directives and guidelines”

wherever they appear, there shall be substituted the words

“insurance rules”.

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