Following recommendations by the ombudsman, the CEC removes illegal provisions from the regulation for Bonus-Malus

At the latest meeting of the BEC Board, the regulation has been changed according to recommendations by the ombudsman. Concretically, five provisions that were contrary to legal regulation have been removed after it was found to limit the right to driving vehicles in Kosovo for receiving bonuses or lowering the car insurance fee.

Notification for amending the regulation has also been published on the BQC site, while close sources with this process say that all problematic provisions under the ombudsman's recommendation have been removed.

The ombudsman, in an earlier report, had unveiled five BQK regulations for the Bonus-Malus system, which was found to limit the right to driving vehicles in Kosovo to implement the bonuses in case of car registration.

The old regulation for Bonus-Malus had undergone changes in 2020 from the Central Bank of Kosovo (BQK), linking the implementation of bonuses for vehicle drivers with vehicle registration deadlines. Meanwhile, the Law on Equipable Security says clearly that the bonus benefits only in cases when police officers do not cause accidents in a one-year police deadline.

The nation's lawyer had begun to treat him after a citizen complaint. Research Expanded in this case, it was published in the Economic Bulletin in the month of September last year.

According to findings from the research, it is suspected of interference of interest groups at the Central Bank of Kosovo, at the time these changes occurred. The old regulation had undergone changes only to Article 4, where five provisions were added until all other articles remained unchanged.

In the ombudsman's report on changing Article 4 of the Bonus-Malus System Equipment Equipment System, the contracting of bonus delivery terms for car registration was said to be illegal.

The “Avocate of the people, given the regulation definitions in Article 4, paragraphs 6,7.8 and 10, has noted that the owners of the tools which during the year of security did not cause any harm, but in the following year do not register the cars, according to the time specified in Article 4, paragraphs 6,7.8 and 10, except that the bonus system (safe pay grade) is applied to them, the Malousus (safe price age)<1> said in the report.

The report found that there is a system of rules in the Republic of Kosovo regulating automotive issues, road traffic regulations, and mandatory self - responsibility insurance. According to these regulations, vehicle registration is a legal obligation so that the vehicles can be entitled to traffic flow.

The ombudsman in the report considers it the responsibility of the Kosovo Police to monitor the flow of vehicles into traffic and act in accordance with the Law's provisions for Rrugor Traffic Rules, in cases when unregistered vehicles are encountered in traffic. However, in no case does this give the regulator the right to link the implementation of auto - registration bonus for drivers.

As international practice, the “Bonus-Malus” system takes on a one-year history of drivers and, based on accidents caused or not during this period, accounts for Bonus or Malus. So a person who doesn't cause a traffic accident is rewarded with lowering the amount of pay for vehicle insurance and entering the Bonus category, while accidentmakers pay more dearly and enter the Malus category.

By 2020, in Kosovo this system was implemented only according to the criteria when drivers caused accidents in communications. According to insurance experts, it also envisions international practices in all countries of the world. But the preliminary regulation drafted by the CEC, which has been in force since 2012, underwent changes in July 2020. The application of this system was then expanded for cases when drivers are delayed in the recovery of the car insurance contract.

According to documents owned by the Economic Bulletin, damage to police officers in Kosovo is estimated to be up to 20 million for those five years. /Economic Bulletin/