The National Insurance Commission (NIC) has directed all non-life insurance companies to stop issuing manual motor insurance certificates.

The directive took effect from 20 January 2019.

The NIC has, therefore, asked the insurance companies to return all unused manual stickers in their possession to the Commission before the close of day Friday, 24 January 2020 for a refund.

In a statement, the NIC said insurance and brokerage firms are to sign onto the NIC motor insurance database (MID) or risk facing sanctions.

“Flouting this directive will be considered illegal and the Commission will apply the fullest sanctions”, it said.

“Given that the current manual stickers are no longer legal, companies can only use the MID portal for their motor insurance business with immediate effect”, it added.

The move by the NIC seems to be part of measures to reduce the number of fake insurance certificates in the system.