To set up an insurance pool for cross-border travel to and from the Kingdom
Six Cambodian insurance companies have signed a memorandum of understanding to set up an insurance pool for cross-border travel to and from the country – reported Phnom Penh Post.
The collaboration is a step ahead towards the establishment of cross-border auto insurance after an ASEAN agreement from 2001. A government directive issued in March had made it mandatory for vehicles crossing Cambodia’s border to register third-party liability insurance.
Chhay Rattanak, chairman of the General Insurance Association of Cambodia (GIAC), said: The insurance policy would be launched at the beginning of next year at the latest.
Reportedly, the diference in the insurance laws among Cambodia and its neighbours was another issue that had to be resolved. Hence, this includes differences between third-party, passenger and vehicle insurance. Those differences mean the passengers of a Cambodian vehicle that crashes abroad could return, but the vehicle would be impounded, according to current agreements and insurance regulations.
Chan Dara, deputy director general of the transport department at the Ministry of Public Works and Transport, said: Currently, vehicles can only cross legally between Cambodia and Vietnam as part of an agreement that allows 150 vehicles across each day, even though agreements have been signed with all three of the Kingdom’s neighbours. An agreement was signed with Laos in April to permit 40 vehicles a day to cross, but problems on the Laotian side mean it is yet to be implemented.