Filenews 26 September 2023
A series of changes to the law concerning the photo-labelling system are brought about by an amending bill of the Ministry of Transport, which has been consulted and will be sent to the Legal Service for final legislative inspection.
The amendments criminalise the offence of obstructing cameras by citizens and, in fact, provide that in the event of damage, in addition to a fine or imprisonment, the court may order that the corresponding amount be paid to compensate for the damage. At the same time, an attempt is being made with an amendment to change the legislation in order to solve the problem with those who refuse to receive the extrajudicial document. For this reason, it will be possible to inform the offending driver either by e-mail or sms.
It also solves the problem of companies not indicating who was driving the vehicle during the offence. With the change in legislation, if a company does not indicate the driver, then the fine will be paid by itself.
One of the changes that will occur concerns the case that the registered vehicle owner, while located, refuses to receive the notification. That is why with the change of law it will be presumed that the notice has been received and, in case the extrajudicial fine is not paid, then criminal proceedings can be brought against it.
Also, if the registered owner of the vehicle, who receives the notice, claims that he is not the offending driver, he is obliged to notify the responsible officer in writing within a period of 15 days from the receipt of the notice with the finding of the photo-tagging device, giving the details of the offending driver, otherwise The proceedings continue against the registered owner.
Furthermore, in case the notice to the indicated offending driver is returned to the sender as not received or, in the event that, while the indicated driver is identified and located, he does not accept the commission of the offence, then the procedure continues against the registered owner. If the registered owner of the vehicle is a business and the vehicle at the time of registration is leased, the offending driver is considered the lessee of the vehicle or the driver resulting from the rental contract. In such a case, the registered owner of the vehicle cooperates, directly and at all stages, with the competent authorities of the Republic to provide the details of the lessee of the vehicle.
If the owner of the vehicle is a legal entity, before the procedure for sending the notification is applied, a letter is sent inviting the company, through the managing officer, to indicate the driver and to inform, by letter, within 15 days.
Otherwise, criminal proceedings may be brought against the company.
It will be allowed to inform about the existence of a notice or letter for an out-of-court from cameras, to be done by email or short telephone text message, to an email address or mobile phone number of the owner of the vehicle.
The recipient of the information for an extrajudicial document is obliged, in case the address indicated on it is incorrect, within 15 days of receipt of the information to enter the correct address in an electronic database used exclusively for photo-tagging purposes. Failure to comply is an offence punishable by a fine not exceeding €3000 or imprisonment not exceeding one year.
You do damage, you pay
An important change concerns the introduction of a provision according to which "whoever intentionally causes damage to a photo-tagging device or any part or component thereof or to a vehicle in which the device operates or with which it is transported and/or (b) obstructs or renders impossible the smooth operation of a photo-tagging device, commits an offense, punishable by a fine not exceeding five thousand (€5,000) or by imprisonment for a period not exceeding one time and the court may additionally order the offender to pay, such amount as the court shall determine, for the damage caused."
Regarding the notorious article that caused reactions, the bill states: Those who provide timely notification to any person of the existence of a photo-tagging device are punished with €5,000. It is noted, however, that after the uproar that this report also affects the warning indicators made by drivers, the Minister of Transport publicly stated that it will be clarified that the report is made only for those who own anti-radar devices.
