Driving without the green card?28/11/2024|Press releasesFrom autumn 2024, drivers of vehicles registered in the Czech Republic will not need to carry the green card in any form when driving on Czech roads. The check will be carried out online, so the driver will only need to carry the ID card and not even the physical one – the electronic ID will be sufficient. For insurance policies concluded after 1 October 2024 the innovation starts right now. Contracts concluded before 1 October 2024 will be registered in the information system of the Czech Insurers' Bureau (ČKP) and will be available for online inspection in the second half of November at the latest. So even older policies can benefit from this improvement during this autumn. This new feature, which will simplify the lives of many drivers, is part of the changes to third-party liability insurance effective since 1 October 2024. Here is an overview of the most important changes: The insurance will be valid immediately after it has been arranged and paid for; it will be registered online in the information system. When registering a vehicle, it will no longer be necessary to submit the green card, the Road Vehicles Registry (RSV) will be linked online with the Czech Insurers' Bureau (ČKP) system and will verify the validity of insurance. The Police of the Czech Republic will check the insurance of a domestic vehicle on the basis of data from the Czech Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance Act (until 1 October 2024 the driver had to present the green card). After 30 days, when the vehicle is not insured, the Czech Insurers' Bureau will send this information to the Road Vehicles Registry, where the vehicles will be prepared for decommissioning. The Road Vehicles Registry will allow the decommissioning decision and traffic rule violation notice to be generated if the obligation to submit the licence plate and vehicle registration certificate was not met. Transition period: for insurance taken out before 1 October 2024, information about the insurance arrangement will be available in the information system of the Czech Insurers' Bureau, with a delay of approximately 45 days (Section 15(1) of Act No.168/1999 Coll., on insurance against liability for damage caused by the operation of a vehicle). Frequently asked questions and answers 1. Do I have to show my green card when I transfer the vehicle to a new owner? If the liability insurance was taken out with the insurance company after 1 October 2024, the green card does not need to be submitted. However, if the insurance was concluded before 1 October 2024, it will be valid, but does not have to be registered in the information system until about mid-November 2024. In this case, it will still be necessary to provide proof of insurance by means of a green card or insurance policy. 2. What regulation (act)allows this? Act No. 30/2024 Coll., on Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance, as amended since 1 April 2024, repealed the previous Act No. 168/1999 Coll., on Motor Vehicle Liability Insurance. The amendment to this act, effective since 1 October 2024, introduces a change in the transmission of insurance information in real time, i.e. online. 3. How can drivers prove that they have taken out liability insurance in the Czech Republic? Drivers can already choose whether to have a green card in paper or electronic form. Since 1 October 2024, it has been sufficient if the insurance is valid and is in the information system of the Czech Insurers' Bureau (ČKP). The police and the authorities will check the validity of compulsory liability insurance online (in the Road Vehicles Registry), so drivers will not need the green card in the Czech Republic. 4. How does drivers prove that they have taken out liability insurance abroad? You still need to carry your green card to other EU countries. From 2025, a digital version will be sufficient. In non-EU countries, the driver must always physically carry the green card. 5. Since when is liability insurance valid? Until now, liability insurance (so-called compulsory liability insurance) could be taken out several days before the insurance was paid to the insurance company. Since 2 October 2024, however, vehicles for which insurance has not been paid have been considered uninsured. Police and authorities will check the existence of insurance online, not from the green card. Liability insurance is thus not taken out when the insurance contract is concluded, but when the insurance payment is credited to the account of the insurance company, which then forwards this information to the Czech Insurers' Bureau, so it can provide the data as required. 6. Are there exemptions from insurance? Yes, as in the years before, the insurance does not cover the operation of vehicles of the integrated rescue system, state-operated vehicles, vehicles of the armed forces, vehicles of the municipal volunteer fire brigade and stolen or decommissioned vehicles. Proving these exemptions has not changed with this amendment. 7. Is it still possible to discontinue liability insurance when the vehicle is decommissioned? Yes, nothing has changed about this option and it is again included in Section 12 of the new Act No. 30/2024 Coll. The vehicle owner may apply for the vehicle to be decommissioned at any municipal office of the municipality with extended jurisdiction where vehicle registrations are carried out and, when doing so, the driver shall hand in to the office all licence plates with the registration number and the vehicle registration certificate. The driver can then terminate or discontinue the liability insurance policy. If the decommissioning of a vehicle lasts longer than 12 months, the owner of the decommissioned road vehicle shall, without undue delay after the expiry of that period, notify the authority which decommissioned the vehicle of the address of the place where the decommissioned vehicle is located and the purpose of its use. At the end of the decommissioning process (when the vehicle is returned to service), the authority will issue for the owner of that decommissioned vehicle the licence plate and a vehicle registration certificate after verifying online that the liability insurance obligation has been met or that the insurance has been paid to the insurance company. If the decommissioning of a vehicle lasted more than three consecutive years, the authority will assign a new licence plate to the vehicle the new vehicle registration certificate, unless the owner of the vehicle applied to retain the original licence plate before the expiry of that period. 8. Decommissioning of the vehicle was previously recorded in the registration certificate. How is it now? Information on the decommissioning of a vehicle (date of decommissioning and date of end of decommissioning) is only entered by the registration office in the Road Vehicles Registry, which makes this information available, for example, to the police. The registration office will issue the corresponding certificate, including the time when the vehicle was taken out of service, upon request. The same information can also be obtained from the Transport Portal or at www.dataovozidlech.cz. 9. Can the authority decide to decommission a vehicle ex officio? Yes. The Czech Insurers' Bureau records all information from insurance companies on the fulfilment of the liability insurance obligation and, if the vehicle fails to meet this condition for 30 consecutive days, it forwards the information to the Road Vehicles Registry. Pursuant to Section 12(1)(b) of Act No.56/2001 Coll., on the Conditions of Operation of Vehicles on Roads, as amended since 1 October 2024, the competent registration authority then removes the road vehicle from service ex officio. The decision on this vehicle decommissioning may be issued as the first act of the administrative authority in the proceedings. The decision to take a vehicle out of service is delivered to the address recorded in the basic registers or to a data mail box and can be appealed against within 15 days. The next steps of the authority are governed by Act No. 500/2004 Coll., the Administrative Code, as amended. 10. Can the authority penalise me for not handing in my licence plates, the vehicle registration certificate or for failing to report the address of the location and purpose of use of a decommissioned vehicle or for operating an uninsured vehicle? For any of the listed above, a fine of up to CZK 50 000 may be imposed in the offence proceedings and, in justified cases, the forfeiture of the item is possible. 11. Who can the applicant contact to resolve issues related to liability insurance? The Ministry of Finance is responsible for the liability insurance act.