History
The
Member States of the Common Market For Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA)
(then Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern African (PTA) noting the
problems raised by inter-state traffic with regard to motor vehicle liability
insurance, and being aware of the satisfactory results obtained by the
International Insurance Card Scheme, which has been in force for many years in
Europe and other parts of the world, agreed, within the Protocol on Transport
and Communications, to adopt minimum requirements for the insurance of goods
and vehicles.
Implementation
Following
the signing of the agreement on the implementation of the Third Party Motor
Vehicle Insurance Scheme, known as the Inter-Bureaux Agreement on April 26,
1987, Lusaka, Zambia (in conformity with the provisions of the Protocol by
National Bureaux designated by governments to administer the operations of the
Scheme in their countries ) and the ratification of the Protocol on the
establishment of the Third Party Motor Vehicle Insurance by the eleven member
countries, namely: Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Swaziland, (then also
Somalia), Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The COMESA Yellow Card Scheme
was implemented and started its operations in the above member state.
The following countries are the initial signatories of the protocol:
- Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Swaziland, (then also Somalia), Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe
The
Protocol on the Establishment of the Third Party Motor Vehicle Insurance Scheme
was signed on December 4, 1986 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia by fourteen countries.
6th Meeting of the Council
of Ministers, which was held in Bujumbura, Burundi in
July, 1985 decided that a compulsory Third Party Motor Vehicle Insurance Scheme
be established.