The International Motor Insurance Card Model

The purpose of the document called International Motor Insurance Card or formerly Green Card consists in certifying that the vehicle for which it has been issued possesses a sufficient third party liability insurance cover when crossing the border of a foreign country.

The International Motor Insurance Card is issued by 46 insurance bureaux of Europe and individual Mediterranean countries, which are all affiliated to an umbrella organisation, the Council of Bureaux (CoB). The Swiss National Bureau of Insurance (NBI) is a member of the CoB. By virtue of this affiliation, it has to follow the requirements set up by the CoB when it issues its International Motor Insurance Cards.

The NBI authorised its member companies to issue International Motor Insurance Cards on their own. The Insurance Card has to be ordered from the insurer with whom the vehicle insurance policy has been concluded. In most cases, the insurers automatically hand out an International Motor Insurance Card after the conclusion of the insurance contract.

The International Motor Insurance Card must correspond to the model shown below. Certain variations are allowed as long as the model complies with the specifications of the CoB and the issuing company has obtained a "Good for Print" from the NBI General Secretariat. The International Insurance Card is only valid when printed. Presenting the insurance card on the screen of a mobile device is not permitted.

The following validity requirements must also be observed:

• Printout on green paper and from 1 July 2020 also on white paper (colours other than white and green are not permitted and will invalidate the insurance card)
• Paper size: min. A6, max. A4
• Font colour black
• Faultless printout (in case of stripes or other printing errors, the process must be repeated)