Proposed Amendments to the Motor Vehicles (Third-Party Risks and Compensation) Act

21 OCT 2013

21 Oct 2013 Posted in Press releases

Introduction

  1. The Ministry of Law is proposing amendments to the Motor Vehicles (Third-Party Risks and Compensation) Act (MVA).

  2. These amendments will allow the Public Trustee to focus its resources on protecting the interests of motor accident victims who are not legally represented and to ensure that these and other vulnerable victims receive adequate compensation for their injuries.

  3. We would like to thank the Law Society, the General Insurance Association of Singapore and other stakeholders for their valuable inputs that helped shape these amendments.

Proposed Amendments

  1. Following a review of the motor accident compensation framework in Singapore and close consultation with industry stakeholders, the Public Trustee will relinquish two of its statutory roles under the Act, which were assessed to be no longer necessary:
    1. Relinquish the role of reviewing the adequacy of out-of-court settlements for motor accident victims who are legally represented or where an order of court has been made

      2. Where the victims are not legally represented, the Public Trustee will continue to perform the role of ensuring that the amount of compensation for the injury sustained is adequate.
    2. Relinquish the role of holding the compensation monies in trust for victims who can be paid directly by the insurer or the party liable to make the payment.

      3. The Public Trustee will continue to hold the compensation monies in trust for vulnerable victims or where the court so orders, to ensure that these victims are not deprived of their rightful compensation. These may include victims who are:
      1. Not legally represented;
      2. Unable to receive the compensation sum at the time of payment such as persons serving a prison sentence or persons subject to a quarantine order;
      3. Minors, or
      4. Lacking in mental capacity.

Reasonableness of fees charged by solicitors

  1. The Public Trustee will continue to review the reasonableness of fees charged by solicitors acting for the victims of motor accidents. This will ensure that the costs of solicitors remain reasonable and do not eat into the victim’s compensation sum. In addition, it will ensure that the solicitors receive fair remuneration for the services rendered.

Other miscellaneous amendments

  1. The proposed miscellaneous amendments to the MVA will also allow the Minister for Law to make relevant rules in respect of certain parts of the MVA relating to the motor accident compensation framework.

Last updated on 21 Oct 2013