Filenews 5 March 2025
The plenary session of the Parliament will decide whether citizens will be able to pay in instalments the extrajudicial fees related to traffic offences.
Before the parliamentary Committee on Transport, as mentioned in a relevant report, two proposals for a Law had been submitted which, finally, were formulated with the aim of:
- An amendment to the Extrajudicial Regulation of Offences Law, in order to provide for the possibility of payment of extrajudicial fines by instalments, the dates and amount of which will be determined by the competent authority issuing the said fine.
- An amendment to the Extrajudicial Regulation of Offences Law, in order to enable debtors to pay the extrajudicial fine in two to five equal monthly interest-free instalments.
The parliamentary Committee on Transport, after listening to the stakeholders and taking into account all the factors, decided by majority (and with the agreement of the rapporteurs of the law proposals) to amend the texts of the bills as follows:
- Provide that the possibility of payment by instalments will apply only to extrajudicial fines for traffic offences.
- Amend specific provisions of existing legislation concerning prosecution and increase of the extrajudicial fine by half, in order to align them with the possibility of payment by instalments.
- Provide that the possibility of payment by instalments will concern only extrajudicial fines for traffic offenses amounting to €150 or more, excluding the offence of parking in disabled parking areas.
- Introduce the time limit within which the extrajudicial fine must be paid by instalments, i.e. within six months from the date of service of the notice.
- Clarify that the dates of payment of instalments will be determined by the person who committed the offence.
- Amend specific provisions of existing legislation concerning prosecution and increase of the extrajudicial fine by half, in order to align them with the possibility of payment by instalments.
The rapporteurs of the first draft law, Christos Christou, Linos Papagiannis and Sotiris Ioannou on behalf of ELAM, argued that the proposed amendment is appropriate, since the time period provided for in the law for the payment of the extrajudicial fine is insufficient and the amount that citizens are required to pay may occupy a large part of the monthly income of a household for a significant number of them. as a result of which they are unable to meet that obligation.
The rapporteur of the second bill (Valentinos Fakontis of AKEL) argued that the proposed regulation is necessary as a result of the financial difficulties faced by many citizens in paying the high amounts of extrajudicial fines. As he pointed out, the adoption of the proposed regulation will facilitate citizens through the possibility of repaying the fine in instalments. Furthermore, by providing this option, any further costs will be reduced, in case they would be brought before a court for the payment of the fine by instalments.
It is noted that representatives of the Ministry of Justice and Public Order and the Cyprus Police expressed their disagreement with the proposed regulations.
In particular, the police spokesman stated that the proposed regulations are contrary to the philosophy of the extrajudicial fine that involves the imposition of immediate punishment. At the same time, he pointed out that their adoption may create practical and insurmountable problems and result in large administrative costs.
The representative of the Legal Service of the Republic pointed out that as the proposals under discussion have been tabled, their provisions for the payment by instalments generally concern all extrajudicial fines provided for in existing legislation and not only traffic offences.
