ECOWAS Brown Card: MTTD tasked to ensure foreign motorists in Ghana possess Brown Card certificate
The Motor Transport and Traffic Directorate (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service (GPS), has been tasked by the Ghana National Bureau – issuing/handling agency of the Brown Card – to ensure foreign motorists in the country posses the ECOWAS Brown Card.
According to the Bureau, it is imperative for foreign motorists to have the ECOWAS Brown Card as that enables them to access claims against third party liabilities incurred while in the country and the other 14 member states of ECOWAS.
Third party claims or compensation accessible by visiting motorists with a Brown Card can be as low as 3,000 UA ($3,800) and as high as 10,000 UA ($11,400).
The ECOWAS Brown Card provides third party liability cover for death, injury and property damage caused by visiting motorists.
The call on the MTTD to ensure foreign motorists have the ECOWAS Brown Card by the Ghana National Bureau was made during a training workshop for personnel of the Accra and Tema MTTD – as part of a nationwide training workshop for MTTD personnel – on Tuesday, November 22.
Speaking to the media after the training workshop, General Secretary of the Ghana National Bureau, Richard S. Eshun, noted MTTD personnel across the country should be able to identify and validate the authenticity of ECOWAS Brown Cards used by foreign motorists.
Some of the features/particulars that personnel of the MTTD should be on the look out for when determining the authenticity of ECOWAS Brown Cards used by foreign motorists include;
- Name of Issuing National Bureau
- Particulars of policy holder
- Particulars of insurer
- Policy number
- Individual serial number
- Period of validity of Brown Card
The ECOWAS Brown Card scheme, was introduced in 1982, following the signing of the ECOWAS Brown Card Protocol by the ECOWAS Heads of State with the primary objective to facilitate the free movement of people, goods and services, across the sub-region.
The scheme is expected to facilitate prompt and fair compensation payment to victims of motor accidents caused by a non-citizen motorist from a member country.
It is a territorial extension of the motor third party liability insurance, which enables motorists to travel freely within the ECOWAS Brown Card region.
A System for settlement of claims
It is a common system for the settlement of motor insurance claims arising from international motor vehicular accidents. The initiative is expected to enhance trade harmony among member countries; particularly with regard to the laws and regulations on motor accident liability.
Automatic Brown Card for motor policyholders
It is important to state that Ghana became the first Anglophone country to join the Franco-phone countries to issue Brown Card automatically to all motor insurance policyholders. Indeed, the Francophone countries in the sub-region blazed the trail in this regard.
