Drivers in France are required to display a green certificate on their windscreen showing their insurance details.

With effect from 1st April this carte verte is being abolished.

As a result, it will no longer be necessary to:

• affix the insurance certificate on the windscreen of the vehicle;
• change the sticker every year;
• present the insurance certificate during a check by the police.

Needless to say, drivers will continue to be required to have at least third-party insurance cover on their vehicle.

The abolition of the card is being trumpeted on environmental grounds, reducing the carbon footprint of insurers: 50 million documents will no longer be printed each year.

However, it was of questionable value in controlling non-insurance, as false cards could be easily produced. In addition, as the certificate was issued by the insurer at the start of the contract, which could later be terminated, the card did not always reflect the true insurance status of the vehicle.

There are believed to be up to 900,000 uninsured vehicles on French roads. In 2022, 8,443 injured people and the relatives of 157 deceased people were compensated by the Victims' Guarantee Fund due to the driver responsible for the accident being uninsured.

In the event of an inspection, the police are now be able to check the vehicle's insurance by entering the number plate into the central register of insured vehicles, the Fichier des Véhicules Assurés (FVA).

The register must be updated by the insurers at least every 3 days.

This register is not only available to the police, who already use it to check the insurance status of vehicles, but to members of the public, who can use it to confirm their own status or those of another driver.

In future, when they take out their policy, each policyholder will receive a unique document from their insurer, called the Mémo Véhicule Assuré (MVA). Available in paper or on-line format depending on the insurer, it contains the main information relating to the insurance contract, such as name, address, registration number, make and model of the vehicle, the effective date of the guarantee and the date of issue of the document.

Insurers are recommending that the document be kept in the vehicle at all times, to be available as a back-up to the digital system and in the event of an accident.

The MVA is accepted in all the main European countries.

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