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Author
Annotation
The article examines the legal status, governance and functions of the Guarantee Fund under the Bulgarian Insurance Code as a fund-based mechanism for compensating damages from road traffic accidents in which the liable driver holds no valid compulsory Motor Third Party Liability insurance. It reviews the Fund's governing bodies — the Council, the Management Board and the executive directors — as well as its information register, whose accuracy is decisive for the burden of proof borne by injured parties bringing a direct claim against the insurer. Particular attention is given to Interpretative Decision in case No. 1/2014 of the General Assembly of the Commercial Division of the Supreme Court of Cassation, which holds that an MTPL contract is terminated irrespective of whether the termination was entered in the Guarantee Fund's register, while the insurer is not released from liability towards the injured party where it fails to comply with that obligation. The grounds for payment from the Fund for Uninsured Motor Vehicles are analysed, together with the procedural prerequisites for the admissibility of a claim against the Fund and its rights of subrogation against the tortfeasor and the carrier. The author criticises the lack of alignment between Art. 493(2) and Art. 557(1) of the Insurance Code, and the use of the term "indemnity" in relation to the personal Passenger Accident insurance.
Keywords
Guarantee Fund; Fund for Uninsured Motor Vehicles; compulsory Motor Third Party Liability insurance; Insurance Code; information register
