Highway Code

Milan, scooters at risk of insurance fine. What can happen

A local police circular claims that the new compulsory third-party liability insurance coverage will take effect as early as 14 December. But complying is impossible

by Maurizio Hazan

13 December 2024

Codice della strada: le domande e le risposte degli esperti

2' min read

2' min read

Skateboarders at risk of being fined in Milan from tomorrow, 14 December, when the changes to the Road Code (law 177/2024) come into force: according to the local police, the insurance obligation for these electric mobility micro-vehicles will come into force tomorrow, even though it is actually impossible to comply. The problem does not apply to monopats rented in sharing, for which the obligation has already been in place for years.

The Local Police Circular

It all stems from Circular No. 19, issued on 11 December by the Milan local police force. On page 11, it states that the obligation 'is immediately effective as soon as the law comes into force'. So it does not matter that the other new obligation envisaged by the amendments to the Code, that of 'number plates', is postponed until the Ministry of Infrastructure has issued the DM that will regulate the identification marks (a sort of targhini) of scooters.

In the circular, the local police are well aware of the fact that without the sticker it is difficult for insurance companies to 'unambiguously identify' the scooter covered by the policy. But they believe they can overcome the problem with an unspecified policy 'of a purely personal nature, i.e. providing insurance cover for each scooter driver against injured third parties'.

Codice della strada: le domande e le risposte degli esperti

The impossibility of securing

In fact, such a policy is not technically conceivable: the new Article 1, paragraph 75-vicies quinques inserted in Law 160/2019 by Law 177/2024 to impose the insurance obligation on scooters expressly refers to Rc auto policies. Which, in the current state of the law, can be excluded to be personal.

Ordinary general third party liability covers may have it, but they are not subject to the companies' obligation to contract, so there is no certainty for everyone that they will be able to insure their scooters.

The norms on third party motor liability link the warranty of a vehicle to its identification with licence plate or chassis number (articles 127 and 149, paragraph 2, of the Insurance Code, article 2 of Ministerial Decree 54/2020, article 2 of Ivass regulation no. 9, article 12 of Ivass regulation no. 23 etc.). Therefore, wanting to support the immediate operation of the obligation according to law (and therefore with the scheme of the Rc auto) and since there are no 'targhini' yet, we should imagine the possibility of identifying scooters with their serial numbers (the equivalent of the chassis number that must be present on normal motor vehicles).

This would in any case pose operational problems incompatible with the sales structures in use in the insurance market. Problems of such an impact, however, that they cannot be reasonably resolved in the short term.

Codice della strada: ecco le sanzioni per chi abbandona animali in strada

De facto extension

Therefore, it seems more reasonable to maintain that, in concrete terms and in the face of regulatory silence, the insurance obligation for scooters will not be in force on 14 December. In fact, it should be considered subordinate to the issue of the implementing decree that will establish the modalities for the printing, production and sale of the identification mark.

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