Those who use electric scooters are soon to face a new responsibility: ensuring that their devices are covered by civil liability insurance. This obligation, to apply across the Spanish state, will also affect agricultural and industrial vehicles. The measure was approved this Tuesday at the regular meeting of the Spanish cabinet, which gave the green light to a bill that, in addition, improves compensation for traffic accident victims, the Efe agency reports.
The draft bill passed by the Spanish government transposes a European directive and changes the law on civil liability and insurance with regard to motor vehicles, while also amending the law on regulation of insurance companies, said the Spanish economy ministry in a statement. The text, however, will now be sent to the Congress of Deputies to begin its parliamentary hearing.
Variety of improvements
The rule establishes improvements in several areas: firstly, in the coverage, compensation and security for victims of motor vehicle accidents, by establishing a "clearer and broader" definition of vehicles that must have mandatory civil liability insurance; it also improves assessment system for personal injury compensation; and it gives greater security to accident victims in the event of insurance company insolvency and improves the authorities' ability to check on the existence of insurance policies.
The text expands the definition of motor vehicles, in order to extend compulsory insurance to agricultural and industrial vehicles. Until now, they have been exempt from this obligation. It gives the owners of these vehicles six months - onvce the measure enters into law - to take out insurance.
Likewise, the draft bill includes the concept of a light personal vehicle, which includes the electric scooter. These vehicles must have compulsory civil liability insurance. The argument used to justify this demand is that the promotion of sustainable urban transport must be compatible with the protection of victims of accidents caused by these new vehicles.
As for how this insurance will work, the draft legislation sets out that the Valuation System Monitoring Commission, responsible for overseeing systems of traffic accident compensation, will have six months from the publication of the law to issue a proposal for the compulsory insurance system for these light personal vehicles. At the same time, the Spanish government will have to launch a public register of light personal vehicles before January 2nd, 2026. Thus, the implication is that users of electric scooters in Spain will have to officially register their vehicles in a change that will be in force within 18 months.
Improvements to accident compensation
The text includes improvements in compensation for accident victims by means of making assessment procedures more agile, avoiding judicial routes if possible by allowing extrajudicial alternatives for conflict resolution where possible, making medical reports and police certificates free of charge, and establishing shorter deadlines for medical assessment and report delivery, among other measures. Regarding the cost of the insurance coverage, the draft bill says that it will rise with inflation.