Traffic law, compulsory motor insurance and road accidents in Iraq

In briefTraffic Law No. 8 of 2019 governs registration, driving licences, offences, impound and traffic crimes; Law No. 52 of 1980 makes every car automatically insured and obliges the insurer to compensate death or bodily injury regardless of fault; the Civil Code governs wider compensation. Fines may be challenged before the traffic directorate's objection committee within fifteen days.

A road accident in Iraq usually opens three files at once. One concerns the driver's criminal responsibility, one concerns who repairs the harm under civil law, and one concerns what the state insurer owes to an injured person or a bereaved family. Alongside these sit the everyday matters that involve no accident at all: a fine written by a traffic officer, a car held at a traffic directorate, or a driving licence taken away. The office of Ali Barakat, lawyer, in al-Yarmouk, Baghdad, reads these matters against two main statutes: Traffic Law No. 8 of 2019 and Compulsory Insurance against Motor Vehicle Accidents Law No. 52 of 1980.

Traffic Law No. 8 of 2019

The law appeared in Official Gazette No. 4550 on 5 August 2019, and a correction notice for several articles followed in No. 4562 on 11 November 2019. Article 50 brought it into force sixty days after publication, and article 49 repealed Coalition Provisional Authority Order No. 86 of 2004 while keeping the regulations and instructions made under that order alive until replaced. In practice, older instructions can still govern a transaction next to the new text. The official Iraqi legislation database records two Federal Supreme Court rulings on the law: decision No. 65 of 2021 struck out item (1) of article 31, which had provided for specialised traffic investigation and misdemeanour courts, leaving items (2) and (3) of that article in force; and decision No. 42/federal/2020 struck out article 43, which had divided fine revenue.

Article 44 divides the work. Traffic police organise movement inside and outside cities; the General Traffic Directorate and the provincial traffic directorates handle vehicle registration and driving licences. Article 47 lets the Minister of Interior issue instructions on registration and licensing, and lets the Director-General of Traffic issue notices on rules of the road.

Registration and sale of a vehicle

Under article 3, vehicles are registered with the competent registration office, and the details entered in the register are proof of ownership against everyone unless challenged as forged. A registration document runs for five years. Article 10 says a vehicle sale is not concluded until it is registered at the traffic registration office, and both seller and buyer, or their agents, must appear before the registration officer. If the transfer cannot be completed within thirty days of signing the outside traffic contract for reasons beyond the buyer's control, the buyer may sue for transfer. Article 13 sets a thirty-day window, counted from the day after signing, for completing the transfer when the contract was drawn up at a licensed showroom or office.

Driving licences

Article 20 forbids driving any vehicle without a licence and bars holding more than one. Article 21 sets age by licence class, medical and psychological fitness confirmed by a medical committee, a theory test, a practical test, and no court ban on driving. Article 23 gives a licence a ten-year life, renewable, with a thirty-day grace period after expiry. See Driving licence: grant, withdrawal and renewal.

Offences and fines

Under the current law most traffic fines never pass through a courtroom. The officer at the roadside decides them, and the driver's only internal remedy is a committee inside the traffic directorate itself. A driver therefore benefits from knowing when quick payment works in his favour and when a challenge is worth it. The tiers of offences and the payment windows are set out in Traffic law: offences and vehicle impound.

Objection committee

Article 30 sets up, in each competent traffic directorate, an objection committee chaired by the head of the legal affairs unit with two officer members. A driver may object to a fine before it within fifteen days of the judgment date. The committee may amend, cancel or confirm, and its decision is final. See Objecting to a traffic fine.

Holding and towing vehicles

A driver may go home without his car for two quite different reasons: a short administrative hold ordered by the traffic officer because of the kind of offence, or a seizure ordered by a judge after an accident because the car is evidence. Each has its own route back and its own timetable. What happens to the car in the pound, who bears the towing cost and how to get it out are covered in Releasing an impounded vehicle.

The court's role in withdrawing a licence

The officer controls fines and short holds; keeping a driver off the road for longer is a judicial decision. The law separates withdrawal sought because offences keep recurring, which survives in item (2) of article 31, from withdrawal that accompanies a conviction for a traffic crime under article 39. It is through these court powers, not a points system, that the law deals with drivers who repeat their mistakes. Details are in Driving licence: grant, withdrawal and renewal. Courts may also rely on the material listed in item (3) of article 31, including the accident scene sketch drawn by a traffic officer.

Traffic crimes

Some conduct on the road is a crime and not only an offence: driving with no valid licence, letting an unlicensed person take the wheel, driving impaired, and causing injury or death through breach of the rules. The penalties climb with the gravity of the harm and with aggravating conduct such as abandoning a victim, while helping the victim and reconciliation with the family can change the outcome. How these cases move through the investigating judge and the courts is explained in Criminal liability in traffic accidents.

Government drivers

Under article 29, if a driver of a state, public-sector or mixed-sector vehicle does not pay a fine on time, the traffic office notifies his employer, which deducts the amount from salary; the doubling rule does not apply to him. See Heavy machinery and government vehicle accidents.

Compulsory insurance

Since 1980 Iraq has attached cover for bodily injury to the vehicle itself rather than to a policy the owner chooses to buy, so an injured person need not ask whether the driver was insured. The state's National Insurance Company is the insurer. The right is, however, tied to a written notice deadline and to limits on what is covered, so timing matters. Who can claim, for what, and by when is set out in Compulsory motor insurance and traffic compensation.

When the insurer recovers from the driver

After paying the victim, the insurer may in some situations turn to the driver or owner to get its money back, for example where the driver was unlicensed for that class of vehicle or impaired. Those situations are a matter between the insurer and the people responsible; they do not reduce what the victim receives. The allocation of responsibility among owner, driver and insurer is in Owner, driver and insurer liability.

Civil compensation

Whatever insurance does not cover remains a debt owed by whoever caused the harm under the Civil Code rules on tort, including the rules on a person in control of a vehicle, on non-material harm and on dependants who lost their support. A civil action must be heard within a set period that starts once the injured party knows of the harm and of its author. The route is described in Civil compensation claim for a traffic accident, and the first hours after a crash in After a collision or run-over.

Which file to open first

Many people start with the wrong question after a crash. Asking how much compensation comes after two earlier questions: was anyone physically hurt or killed, and was a report made and a criminal case opened? If there is bodily injury, the insurance route is open with its own deadline. If only vehicles were damaged, the matter usually lies between the parties or before the civil court. If a criminal case exists, any waiver or reconciliation reached in it affects the penalty, so it is wise to state in writing whether the agreement also covers civil compensation or only the criminal side. Putting these questions in order saves months of visits to offices.

Who contacts the office

Drivers who think a fine was wrongly imposed, owners whose car is being held, injured people asking what the insurer and the driver owe, families who lost a provider in a run-over, and drivers facing a criminal case after an accident. Contact: +964 770 848 7526 or alibaltaae@gmail.com.

Legal basis and sources

Frequently asked questions

Is an outside contract enough to sell a car?

No. Article 10 of the Traffic Law says a sale is not concluded until it is registered at the traffic registration office.

How long do I have to object to a traffic fine?

Fifteen days from the judgment date, before the objection committee at the traffic directorate, under article 30.

Does the insurer pay even if the driver was not at fault?

Yes. Article 2 of Law No. 52 of 1980 obliges the insurer to compensate death or bodily injury regardless of fault.

How long is a driving licence valid?

Ten years, renewable, with a thirty-day grace period after expiry, under article 23.

Topics in this area

Always check the text in force and its amendments in the official source.

To ask about your matter

Call +964 770 848 7526 WhatsApp Email

Traffic, Vehicle Accidents and Compulsory Insurance