Monrovia – The Heads of States and Governments of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Assembly has reduced the cost of liability insurance for motor vehicles from US$75 to US$10.
Report by Edwin G. Genoway, Jr – [email protected]
The Secretary General of the Liberia National Bureau of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme, Sahr A. Kaba said the reduction from US$75 to US$10 was intended for every ECOWAS citizen using motor vehicles to afford the fee.
“With the reduction of the amount it will help individuals in ECOWAS countries to travel from one place to another under the ECOWAS insurance policy, if a vehicle has the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance and that car cross to any of the ECOWAS country and the car get involve in an accident, ECOWAS will pay the insurance cost of that vehicle and later request reimbursement from the local company that insures that vehicle,” he told the FPA via mobile.
He said the Liberia National Bureau of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme decision is enshrined in the ECOWAS Brown Card Protocol.
In a recent assembly held in Bamako, Mali the committee said the ECOWAS Brown Card can be obtained only from insurance companies who are registered members of the Liberia National Bureau of ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme.
The ECOWAS Brown Card Certificates can be obtained by owners of company vehicles, motorbikes and locomotive machines, not individual owners.
The committee said the ECOWAS Brown Card Certificate is an instrument to foster sub-regional integration which can be achieved through the establishment of the Economic Community of West African States’ compulsory third party liability insurance scheme.
The objective of this security instrument is to guarantee a fair, equitable and prompt compensation for damages caused to victims of local and international road accidents by resident and non-resident motorists travelling from one ECOWAS member state to another.
The committee said the protocol on the establishment of the ECOWAS Brown Card is well elaborated and has been complimented by the Supplementary Protocol of 2001 to meet the requirements imposed on the Liberia National Bureau of the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme.
ECOWAS resolutions 13 of the 29th General Assembly held in Monrovia, Liberia and 15 of the 32nd General Assembly held in Mali-Bamako, reiterated calls for participants in the scheme to implement the Automatic Issuance of the ECOWAS Brown Card Certificate to give additional benefits through an ECOWAS one-community insurance certificate.
“A motor insurance policy in the scheme in any member state means that motor vehicle is insured throughout the ECOWAS member countries, because the ECOWAS Brown Card promotes the visibility of its initiative to comply with the ECOWAS Protocol,” he said.
“The ECOWAS Brown Card shall be recognized as a valid certificate of insurance in the territories of the parties to this Protocol in which the production of such a certificate is required, either within the National Territory or at its Frontiers, as a condition for the circulation of motor vehicles,” according to the statement.
“Therefore,” Kaba said, “the approved official public sale price for the ECOWAS BROWN Card Certificate is now US$10 and not more than or less than, and any other changes in price shall be communicated to the public.”
The Liberia National Bureau of ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme is located on 20th Street in Fiama, Monrovia.