French Insurance Code
In forceI. - The French Compulsory Accident Insurance Guarantee Fund (Fonds de Garantie des Assurances Obligatoires de Dégât) compensates, under the conditions set out in 1 and 2 of this I, the victims or those entitled on behalf of the victims of losses resulting from an accident occurring in France in which a vehicle within the meaning of Article L. 211-1 is involved.
1. The guarantee fund shall compensate losses resulting from personal injury:
a) When the person responsible for the damage is unknown ;
b) Where the party responsible for the damage is not insured, except where this is the result of a legal derogation from the obligation to insure.
2. The guarantee fund compensates for damage to property, under the conditions and within the limits set by a decree of the Conseil d'Etat:
a) When the person responsible for the damage is unknown, provided that the accident caused personal injury ;
b) Where the person responsible for the damage is identified but is not insured, except by virtue of a legal derogation from the obligation to insure.
In the case of an accident involving a vehicle dispatched from a Member State of the European Community to France and occurring within thirty days of acceptance of delivery of the vehicle by the purchaser, the guarantee fund is obliged to intervene under b of 1 and 2, regardless of the Member State in whose territory the accident occurs.
II. - The guarantee fund also compensates, under the conditions set out in 1 and 2 of this II, the victims or the successors of the victims of damage arising from a road traffic accident caused, in places open to public traffic, by a person moving on the ground or an animal.
1. The guarantee fund shall compensate losses resulting from personal injury:
a) When the person responsible for the damage is unknown or uninsured ;
b) When the animal responsible for the damage has no owner or its owner is unknown or uninsured.
2. The guarantee fund compensates for damage to property, under the conditions and within the limits set by decree in the Conseil d'Etat:
a) When the person responsible for the damage is identified but is not insured ;
b) When the person responsible for the damage is unknown, provided that the accident caused personal injury;
c) Where the owner of the animal responsible for the damage is not insured.
III. - When the guarantee fund intervenes under I and II, the compensation must result either from an enforceable court decision or from a settlement which has been approved by the guarantee fund.
When the guarantee fund intervenes under I and II, it pays the compensation awarded to the victims or their rightful claimants which cannot be paid under any other heading when the accident gives rise to a right to compensation. Payments made to victims or their dependants which cannot give rise to a recourse action against the party responsible for the damage are not considered as compensation in any other respect.
IV. - The guarantee fund is also responsible for managing and financing, for annuities awarded in respect of accidents occurring before 1 January 2013, the annuity increases provided for in Article 1 of Law no. 74-1118 of 27 December 1974 relating to the revaluation of certain annuities awarded in compensation for loss caused by a land motor vehicle and containing various civil provisions and in Article 1 of Law no. 51-695 of 24 May 1951 relating to increases in certain life annuities and pensions, in respect of certified supporting statements. Claims relating to the increases in annuities referred to in this paragraph are time-barred after four years from the first day of the year following the year in which the rights were acquired. The fund may check the accuracy of the information provided by the debtor organisations, on the basis of documentary evidence and on site.
The Fund's management of this task is accounted for separately from its other tasks, in accordance with the procedures laid down by order of the Minister for the Economy.
V. - The guarantee fund may finance, in accordance with the procedures and within the limits set by decree in the Conseil d'Etat, actions aimed at reducing the number of road accidents and preventing the absence of motor third party liability insurance.
The guarantee fund may also take direct action, in accordance with the procedures laid down by decree in the Conseil d'Etat, to limit the number of cases where motor third party liability insurance is lacking. In order to carry out these actions, the guarantee fund is authorised to keep for a period of seven years the information communicated by the information body mentioned in article L. 451-1 relating to land motor vehicles not meeting the insurance obligation mentioned in article L. 211-1.
VI. - The guarantee fund is the body responsible for the tasks mentioned in articles L. 424-1 to L. 424-7.
