As part of our celebrations to mark the 75th Anniversary of COB, we wanted to reflect on the rich and meaningful history that has made the organisation what it is today.
Over the course of the next 12 months, this series of articles will focus on key ‘milestones’ from the life of COB, telling the story behind these moments and why these events mattered.
We hope the series will help provide a better understanding of COB, our mission and what has driven our activity over the last 75 years.
In the preceding article of this series, we delved into the inaugural milestone in COB's history achieved in 1949 with the establishment of the Council of Bureaux. However, COB really came of age with the establishment of the Green Card system, the operationalisation of which took place in 1953.
What occurred during this period? What were the principles of the Green Card system? Why is it named the ‘Green Card system’? And what significance does the green colour hold in this context? These questions constitute the focal points of this article, exploring the second pivotal milestone in COB's history. So, let's now embark on the next step of our journey!
Establishing a unified cross-border road traffic system
The key principles that would later shape the Green Card system were formulated in Recommendation No. 5, issued by the Sub-Committee on Road Transport of UNECE in January 1949 (see article ‘1949 - And the Story of COB Begins’) Importantly, these principles remain central to the functioning of the system today:
An insurance certificate on green paper
One of the system's most significant innovations was the facilitation of cross-border road traffic, achieved by replacing frontier insurance with a simple verification process based on the presence of a uniform, internationally recognised, and accepted document.
This document also known as the International Certificate of Motor Insurance (IMIC) drew inspiration from the system already established in the Nordic countries during the 1930s (see article ‘1949 - And the Story of COB Begins’) that issued pre-printed policies for visitors from other countries.
These certificates were acknowledged by border authorities and printed on…green paper!
Hence, the historical importance of the green colour, which would give its name to the certificate (Green Card), to the National Insurers’ Bureaux (Green Card Bureaux) as well as to the entire Green Card system!
Original Green Card Model of 1953 @COB
The first General Assembly
The format of the Green Card was one of the key points on the agenda of the first official General Assembly of the Council of Bureaux which convened on 1-2 November 1951 in London, gathering representatives from 13 Bureaux.
During this meeting a standardised format for the Green Card was established to ensure maximum uniformity of appearance.
Another significant achievement during this assembly was the establishment of a model for an Agreement between Bureaux. Discussions were dedicated to the implementation process of both the Agreement and the Green Card system by insurers.
As a result, each country's government could proceed with arrangements to acknowledge the Green Card as compliant with its Compulsory Insurance Law. Subsequently, the Green Card System could be uniformly introduced by all governments.
Since 1953, the Green Card has also travelled quite the distance! From its original green colour, the International Certificate of Motor Insurance card has evolved into a white document.
Now, 75 years later, it stands on the threshold of another milestone as it prepares to shift into an electronic format in January 2025.