The Convention of 4 May 1971 on the Law Applicable to Traffic Accidents has come into force in Ukraine.
Justice Minister Oleksandr Lavrynovych has reported that Ukraine’s joining the convention will allow settling the issues of the law applicable to civil non-contractual liability arising from traffic accidents effectively and in a unified form.
In addition, the convention will allow avoiding collisions appeared in settling of the issues during the application of the law.
The press service of the Ukrainian Justice Ministry reported that the minister also said that today a total of 21 states are signatory to the present convention.
In particular, apart from Ukraine, the convention was signed by Austria, Belgium, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Morocco, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, France, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Montenegro and Switzerland.
The state that decided to conclude the convention is obliged to admit that the applicable law is the internal law of the state where the accident occurred.
In addition, the convention defines the basis and extent of liability and the grounds for exemption from liability. In particular, the convention provides for the law applicable to liability of individuals and liability for damage of property.
The convention is applicable to accidents occurring with vehicles that are not registered in a state other than that where the accident occurred or registered in several states. The agreement defines the boundaries of the law application. In addition, the possibility to directly apply to insurance companies or to the responsible person is foreseen.
The convention says that a traffic accident shall mean an accident which involves one or more vehicles, whether motorized or not, and is connected with traffic on the public highway, in grounds open to the public or in private grounds to which certain persons have a right of access.
The press service reported that the convention was done at The Hague, on the 4th day of May, 1971.
According to Article 18 of the convention, any state not represented at the Eleventh Session of the Hague Conference on Private International Law which is a Member of this Conference or of the United Nations or of a specialized agency of that Organization, or a Party to the Statute of the International Court of Justice may accede to the present convention.
