The Court of Appeal of Arnhem-Leeuwarden gave a man who received a traffic fine in October 2019 a discount of 25 percent on Tuesday promised, because the Public Prosecution Service has not given the man enough opportunity to object. Although, according to the judge, he indeed ran a red light, he only has to pay 180 euros instead of 240 euros. With this, the court acknowledges for the first time that the obligation to hear is structurally violated and that there is no prospect of a solution to the problem. The ruling sets a precedent for other court violation cases.
Citizens who do not agree with their fine can appeal against it in writing. During that procedure, the public prosecutor is in principle obliged to present the citizen with the possibility of a hearing, so that they can defend themselves orally. Last year, according to the Public Prosecution Service, more than 8 million fines were imposed, of which 336,000 were appealed. In only 34,000 cases did this lead to a hearing.
Lawyer Indy Rissema requested internal policy documents from the Central Processing Public Prosecution Service (CVOM) prosecutor’s office, which handles appeals against traffic fines, via the Government Information (Public Access) Act (Wob). NRC published about those documents last summer. The CVOM acknowledged in a 2021 memo that “in a large number of cases, unlawful acts are committed” by not giving citizens the opportunity to defend themselves in a hearing. Since 2017, the possibility of appeal in a hearing is no longer included in the fine letter, in order to limit the number.
Read also: OM violates duty to hear citizens when appealing against traffic fines
#Court #man #discount #traffic #fine #violation #public #hearing #obligation