The Sri Lanka Police have issued a special notice to inform the public about the use of digital vehicle insurance cards across the country.
Following a joint decision by the Insurance Regulatory Commission of Sri Lanka, the Insurance Association of Sri Lanka and industry stakeholders, insurance companies began issuing digital vehicle insurance cards instead of traditional physical certificates from May 1, 2026.
In addition, the Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board, established under the Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Act No. 20 of 1999 under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock, Land and Irrigation, introduced digital insurance cards for motor vehicles within its jurisdiction from July 20, 2026.
The Inspector General of Police has given special attention to the programme, and relevant guidelines and instructions have been issued to all police stations across the island.
Under the new system, insurance coverage obtained from general insurance companies can be accessed as a digital vehicle insurance card through a mobile app. A printed certificate can also be obtained at the request of the policyholder.
For insurance coverage provided by the Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board, policyholders can access their digital card through a QR code and URL sent to their mobile phones. They can also request a printed certificate or obtain a digital card.
Under Section 104(1) of the Motor Traffic Act, drivers are legally required to produce their insurance certificate.
According to Section 3 of Chapter II of the Electronic Transactions Act No. 19 of 2006, the legal recognition, validity and effect of these digital insurance cards cannot be denied.
To facilitate instant verification, the National Insurance Verification System and the Agricultural Insurance Policy Verification System have been activated.
Police officers and policyholders can verify the validity of an insurance policy free of charge through USSD services by dialing 1338 for general insurance companies or 1918 for the Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board. The vehicle registration number or insurance policy number can be entered through the respective service.
Users can also send the required information by SMS to 1338 or 1918, or contact customer service officers through the same numbers.
For Agricultural and Agrarian Insurance Board policies, additional verification can be carried out by directly scanning the QR code or accessing the live data system through a URL received via SMS or email.
When using the 1338 USSD and SMS services, vehicle registration numbers must be entered using English letters or numbers and a hyphen (-), without spaces. “SRI” should be used instead of the Sinhala prefix “ශ්රී”. For the 1918 service, provincial letters and spaces should be removed, while a hyphen (-) should be used instead of “ශ්රී”.
All calls and SMS messages made to the 1338 and 1918 short codes are completely free of charge.
The transitional provisions also ensure that physical insurance certificates issued before May 1, 2026, and July 20, 2026, respectively, remain valid until the expiry date stated on each certificate.
Temporary cover notes will also continue to be issued until insurance companies officially phase them out.
During an investigation into an accident, a printed copy can be requested from the insurance company, printed directly through the mobile app, or downloaded by scanning the QR code on the insurance policy.
If a digital insurance card cannot be displayed at the scene of an incident, police officers can verify the vehicle’s insurance coverage using the available USSD or SMS services.
