ECOWAS Brown Card 33rd conference - Epectations
‘Monitoring is like roasting corn; the moment you take your eyes off, it gets burnt’ - An African proverb.
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The Council of the Bureau for the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance Scheme is organising its 33rd Council of Bureaux Ordinary Session on the theme: ‘The relationship between the ECOWAS Commission and its established institutions and agencies: the case of the ECOWAS Brown Card Scheme’ in Accra, Ghana.
The conference will be attended by representatives of the various stakeholders from all West African countries, both Francophone and Anglophone, except Cape Verde.
The conference is, among other things, expected to reiterate the commitment of the ECOWAS Commission and its relationship with member states, as well as all relevant stakeholders to ensure the enhancement of a relationship that is challenged with a not-too-clear scheme in some member countries.
Consequently, security agencies in some countries were alleged to have been harassing some haulage drivers in the event of accidents and basic road checks which leave much to be desired.
Objective of the scheme
The primary objective of the scheme is to facilitate the free movement of people, goods and services across the sub-region. Moreover, the scheme is expected to facilitate prompt and fair compensation payment to victims of motor accidents caused by a non-citizen motorist, who is from a member country.
The ECOWAS Brown Card is a territorial extension of the motor third party liability insurance, which enables motorists to travel freely within the ECOWAS Brown Card region.
Implementation
Indeed, the effective implementation of the ECOWAS Brown Card scheme, which was introduced in 1982, following the signing of the ECOWAS Brown Card Protocol by the ECOWAS Heads of State, has not been without some level of non-cooperation of some member countries.
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It is a common system for the settlement of 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
Effective June 2016, Ghana became the first anglophone country to join the francophone countries to issue Brown Card automatically to all motor insurance policyholders.
Indeed, the Francophone countries in the sub-region had blazed the trail in this regard. What beats my imagination, however, is the frequent complaints by Ghanaian motorists, especially in some member countries who are sometimes locked up by the security agencies in these countries, who claim no knowledge about the scheme and rather choose to issue ‘only-God-knows-what’ as what is legally binding under their own jurisdictions.
What card does
The ECOWAS Brown Card Scheme was established to promote vehicular movement of persons, goods and services across national boundaries of ECOWAS member States.
Instructively, this also plays an important role in the entire African integration process, as it promotes borderless trade amongst member States. The ECOWAS Brown Card is akin to the Green Card used in the USA and Europe; the Pink Card of the Middle East; and the Yellow Card of East Africa.
The scheme was one of the foremost protocols signed upon the birth of ECOWAS some 40 years ago. Meanwhile, since 1988, Ghana has operated a local bureau of the scheme to ensure an effective implementation.
Chief among the stakeholders of the scheme are the Ghana Revenue Authority (GRA), Ghana Immigration Service (GIS), the Motor Traffic and Transport Department (MTTD) of the Ghana Police Service, Freight Forwarders, Insurers and the business community, particularly, those whose operations are mainly within the sub-region.
Similarly, these stakeholder institutions exist in the other West African jurisdictions. A great deal of collaboration is, therefore, required of these key stakeholders to ensure success.
Features of new Brown Card
In this regard, the bureau recently introduced a new ECOWAS Brown Card in the form of certificate, with improved security features in order to curb the use of fictitious Brown Cards.
The new Brown Card is in a single leaflet, with improved security features such as hologram and invisible ink print (i.e. only visible under an ultra violet light). It also has ‘on-spot-check’ watermark, with a two-colour secured fluorescent fibre inlaid.
Typically, the ECOWAS Brown Card Insurance covers Third Party Liability for injury, death and property damage caused by visiting motorists from other ECOWAS member States.
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The Scheme guarantees a motor insurance cover which leads to the realisation of the free movement objective of the ECOWAS Commission. Indeed, the card is basically a territorial extension of the local insurance cover and cannot be issued in isolation of an underlying local motor insurance policy.
Generally, intending travelers across the ECOWAS sub-region for the purpose of business are required to contact their local insurers for their Brown Card certificates.
Challenges
Apart from the challenge of the growing use of fictitious cards by sections of the business community owing to the difficulty in procuring the card and cross-border claims payment, the other is about close monitoring by the ECOWAS Commission.
The Ghana Bureau of the Scheme, made up of non-life insurance companies licensed to underwrite motor insurance business in Ghana, have been saddled with several challenges, with the issues of fictitious certificates and cross-border claims settlement being dominant.
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For instance, if a Burkina Faso-registered vehicle is involved in an accident in Ghana, the processes in establishing the authenticity of the claim before settlement, usually takes a very long time. Indeed, it is reported that as a result of this phenomenon, some claims have been outstanding for over 10 years, defeating the very essence of the Scheme. This is why member countries should work diligently around this year’s theme with the strong backing from the ECOWAS Commission.
Some expectations
The ECOWAS Commission, which established the ECOWAS Brown Card Scheme, and other agencies within the sub-region, I expect, can do more by regular periodic reviews of not only the objective of the scheme, but also to ensure that the various stakeholder institutions listed apply the rules to the letter. It can be really tortuous to find yourself involved in an accident in another country and the security agencies in that country fails to recognise what protects you.
The various bureaux in the member countries must intensify their stakeholder engagements in order to promote greater collaboration. These agencies should be made to understand the implications of not recognising the ECOWAS Brown Card; it defeats the very purpose for which it was established.
These stakeholders must not only be given regular capacity building and updates about the scheme, but also reminded of their individual and joint responsibilities at ensuring an effective scheme for the benefit of the sub-region.
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The adoption of the scheme by ECOWAS member States in January 2015 is a step in the right direction, as this will ensure prompt and fair compensation payment to victims of motor accidents caused by non-citizen motorists, especially in the face of an automatic cover for all motorists.
Meanwhile, the scheme must consider setting up local joint taskforces from the various stakeholder groups in member countries in order to curb the growing phenomenon of fictitious Brown Cards.
If this is not done, chances are that automatic covers on all motor policies could also be faked and circulated by some unscrupulous elements of society.