Almost PLN 600 million has been paid so far by the insurers for construction of the CEPiK* system. The amount was financed from the drivers’ premiums, as the legal provisions stipulate compulsory transfer of EUR 1 from each public liability insurance to the CEPiK fund. PIU wants this fee to be suspended by the time of presenting the full functionality plans for CEPiK.
Since 2004 each vehicle owner in Poland has paid an equivalent of EUR 1 annually for construction and development of the CEPiK system. This way the insurers (and in fact the vehicle owners) financed construction of the majority part of the whole system and the majority of costs of its current operation.
The Parliament has just commenced works on amendment to the act on vehicle drivers. Its objective is to postpone the implementation date of some provisions due to the necessity of reconstruction of the whole CEPiK system. According to the justification to the project the system breakdowns, high costs of repairs and necessary updates of the functionality enforce a total reconstruction and postponing the date of CEPiK commissioning in its full capacity to the beginning of 2016.
‘In our opinion the fee related to the public liability insurance should be suspended at least until the time of presenting the CEPiK new architecture and functionality plan by the Ministry of Interior,’ said Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński, CEO of PIU.
A special team dealing with the future shape of CEPiK operates nowadays within the Ministry of Interior.
‘Representatives of PIU are ready for works supporting this team. We have no doubts that our experience related to the transport market will help in faster completion of works on the system which should be advantageous for the drivers,’ Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński said.
Unfortunately, according to the proposed amendment, even after 2016 the insurers still would have no access to the CEPiK register. Such access, which only covers the scope necessary for insurance activity, could allow for significant reduction of costs which could lead to more attractive rates for drivers. This could also lead to improvement of road safety, because:
• it would offer additional instrument (next to the operations of UFG – the insurance guarantee fund) for eliminating the drivers without a valid public liability policy from the roads.
• it would eliminate from the roads all the drivers with their driving licenses suspended or those who use cars without the relevant licence
• it would provide the information on vehicles not having valid technical tests.
PIU is also of the opinion, that the current amount paid for the register related to the public liability policies is too high.
‘The CEPiK fees most often exceed PLN 1. We think that in future, i.e. after the CEPiK improvement plans are presented, the possible mark-up on the public liability policy should be adjusted to this level too,’ Jan Grzegorz Prądzyński explains.
