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MILESTONES IN THE LIFE OF COB: 2020 - COB welcomes new members
MILESTONES IN THE LIFE OF COB: 2020 - COB welcomes new members

 

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 year 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. 

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For the final article in this series, we will highlight a major recent achievement of our organisation. In 2020, significant structural changes occurred at COB with the admission of new members. This milestone marked the culmination of the 'Harmonisation Process', integrating the two pillars of our system: 'Green Card' and 'Protection of Visitors'. These changes also led to a comprehensive redefinition of our organisation’s identity and branding.

 

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The Harmonisation Process

The concept of a 'Harmonisation Process' between the two pillars of COB emerged in 2013 under the initiative of President Mariusz Wichtowski. This process aimed to address the structure of the organisation, the coexistence of the two pillars and the possible renaming of COB.

At that time, COB operated under its official name, the 'Council of Bureaux,' and followed a two-pillar system: the Green Card (GC)1  and the Protection of Visitors (PoV)2 , both designed to protect victims of cross-border road traffic accidents, albeit with different statuses.

While coordinating the activities of the Green Card Bureaux, which were constituent members of COB under the GC pillar, COB also provided secretariat services to the entities responsible for applying the EU Motor Insurance Directives (EU MID) — namely, the Compensation Bodies, Guarantee Funds, and Information Centres — under the PoV pillar.

This dual structure needed optimisation, particularly as the two pillars became increasingly interconnected through joint projects handled by mixed committees and working groups.

Greater efficiency and the elimination of duplication were also necessary, especially as many committees and the COB Secretariat faced a doubled workload with repeated tasks for each pillar.

A more centralised approach was therefore required, which involved redefining the roles of the 'EU MID' bodies within the organisation. To manage this project, a dedicated working group on the ‘Harmonisation of the Two Pillars within COB’ was formed in 2014 to address all organisational, legal, and financial implications.

With a view of accelerating the process, the group’s work was divided into sub-groups, each focusing on a specific topic: redefining the organisation’s purpose, mission, and objectives; addressing membership issues; organising annual decision-making events; and reviewing the structure and leadership.

However, the challenges proved more significant than anticipated, involving four rounds of consultations with COB organisations and extensive redrafting of the Constitution. The scope of work was extensive and required five years to complete.

 

[1] See article : 1953 – Green Light for the ‘Green Card’ system

[2] See article 1972 - Introduction of the first Motor Insurance Directive

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Welcome to the new members!

The culmination of the 'Harmonisation Process' was achieved at the 54th General Assembly on 24 September 2020, when Compensation Bodies, Guarantee Funds and Information Centres joined COB as members. For certain countries, where these functions are operated by separate organisations, independent from the Bureau, this resulted in new entities formally being admitted to COB as new members.

Significant structural changes within the organisation were implemented accordingly, including a new Constitution - consisting of the ‘Articles of Association’ and the ‘Standard Operating Procedures’ (approved in January 2020 during an Extra-Ordinary General Assembly) – as well as the election of a three-member Presidential College (PC) representing the different segments of our membership: signatories of the Multilateral Agreement (MA), non-signatories of the MA and the PoV pillar.

The PC is currently composed of President Sandra Schwarz (Germany), Vice-President Sorin Greceanu (Romania), and Vice-President Abderrahim Diouri (Morocco).

Photo of the Extraordinary GA in 2020 when new Constitution was adopted  @ COB Archives

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A new identity

With their accession, the EU MID Bodies began playing an increasingly active role alongside the Green Card Bureaux in the activities of COB. In this context, another important step was taken with the renaming of COB.

The need for a new brand name had been under discussion for several years and was also addressed during the 'Harmonisation' Process’, although no agreement was reached by its conclusion. Not only was the name 'Council of Bureaux' considered outdated, but it also failed to reflect the full scope of our organisation’s activities.

At the 56th General Assembly held in 2022 in Belgrade, all COB Members agreed on the new 'COB' brand name as well as the new logo. This was the result of a joint effort to modernise and unify our organisation. The decision to retain the COB acronym was based on its strong recognition in the MTPL insurance sector and among our stakeholders.

The new identity was built by defining our vision, mission, and core values, which were then translated visually into a new logo and visual materials that have been in use since September 2022.

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By welcoming new members, COB has redefined its core identity, marking the start of a new chapter in our shared history. We are now ready to tackle future challenges and continue fulfilling our mission of protecting cross-border road traffic victims. 

Together, we are stronger!