If you are a German or Austrian and have received a traffic ticket in Italy, you can forget about it for now. Drivers can be happy.
Rome/Berlin/Vienna – Many Germans and Austrians prefer to spend the best weeks of the year in Bella Italia. Beautiful weather, good food, beaches, mountains and lots of historical sights have always drawn people on this side of the Alps to the Adriatic or the Riviera.
Traffic ticket agreement regulates exchange of owner data – only Italy is currently left out
But a trip by car to a picturesque old town or a popular beach can quickly end with a parking ticket if you exceed the parking time or ignore a speed limit. And up to now, the Italians have also been able to collect the fines in neighboring countries, and the same applies vice versa. For example, a small community in the Dolomites was delighted to receive a million-euro windfall thanks to a speed camera on a mountain pass.
Almost all European countries have signed agreements according to which traffic violations can also be punished abroad. Fines of 70 euros or more imposed in Italy could be collected in Germany since March 7, 2016. This implemented an EU framework decision.
Since then, many drivers from Germany and Austria have had their fines sent home if they were caught speeding in Italy or received a parking ticket. In order to obtain the data of the vehicle owners, almost all European countries are connected to the European Car and Driving Licence Information System (EUCARIS). The data of the vehicle owners is exchanged with each other. The fines were enforceable. Anyone who did not pay was threatened with bailiffs.
South Tyrolean municipality is left with 4,000 traffic tickets
But for the past few months, no more traffic tickets have been sent across the Alps. The reason for this is that Germany, Austria and the Netherlands are denying Italy access to the EUCARIS file. This means that the authorities in the holiday country simply do not receive the address of the owner of the vehicle with which the offence was committed.
In any case, the Italian regulatory authorities are currently stuck with their fines for tourists. In the city of Merano in South Tyrol, according to the member of parliament Julia Unterberger from the Christian Democratic SVP, over 4,000 unenforceable fines total more than 230,000 euros. The problem: they have to be delivered within 365 days. In a question time in parliament in Rome, Transport Minister Matteo Salvini recently spoke of “technical problems,” Unterberger reported to suedtirolnews.it.
Unterberger is furious: “This is not only discrimination against Italian drivers, who are immediately blamed for any offence, but also a loss of funds for the municipalities.” Car rental companies also rarely transmit data to the authorities because they are exempt from liability.
The reason for the Italian fine amnesty for foreigners is still unclear
It is unclear why Italy does not receive any data from its neighbours. The Federal Motor Transport Authority in Flensburg was unable to answer a request for information about the reasons. IPPEN.MEDIA cannot be answered promptly. But one thing is certain: “Under Italian law, the owner and driver are jointly liable,” explains the ADAC. “So if the driver is not known, the owner, or in the case of rental vehicles, the renter, must pay the fine.”
In the case of violations that are detected by automatic traffic monitoring, the owner receives the fine notice by mail – but this is not currently possible. In Germany, only the driver is liable for traffic violations. However, in the case of defects in the vehicle or illegal parking, according to bussgeldkatalog.org There may well be owner liability.
Even if Italy cannot currently enforce speeding or parking violations in Germany or Austria, according to the ADAC, it is important to remember: “If an offense is discovered on the spot, the police will demand the fine directly from the driver.” If the fine is not paid on the spot, foreign drivers usually have to deposit a sum of money as security. The vehicle can be confiscated until the deposit is paid.
Italy’s Transport Minister Salvini promises to remedy the situation – he has done so before
Minister Salvini promised during question time in parliament that Italian law would be changed so that traffic tickets could soon be sent abroad again. He had already done this a few months ago, however, without the right-wing Meloni government producing any results. The minister from the right-wing Lega party is also proving to be a friend of traffic offenders in other respects: he recently stipulated that speed cameras must be announced one kilometer in advance with a sign outside of towns and 200 meters in advance in towns.
In the spring, a mysterious stranger nicknamed “Fleximan” had cut down a series of speed cameras in Italy. In Trentino, there were suspected cases of a manipulated speed camera that seemed to be overzealous.
#Traffic #ticket #surprise #Italian #holidaymakers #Germany