As of: February 22, 2024, 6:36 a.m
By: Bjarne Kommnick, Kilian Bäuml
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A court ruling from Schleswig-Holstein sheds new light on the principle of double punishment for administrative offenses.
Bremen – In Germany, Article 103 of the Basic Law protects anyone who commits a prohibited act from double punishment.
It states: “No one may be punished more than once for the same offense under the general criminal laws”.
This principle also applies to administrative offenses and is underlined by the Latin proverb “ne bis in idem”, which means “not twice in the same matter”.
However, there are legitimate exceptions, as a recent court ruling in Schleswig-Holstein shows.
According to the Schleswig-Holstein state portal, an employee of the public order office in Travemünde discovered a parked car whose general inspection by the TÜV was several months overdue.
Normally this results in a fine of 60 euros and one point in Flensburg, as
bussgeldkatalog.de
reports.
Drivers who are left stranded on the road without petrol also face similar penalties.
Exception to the rule: Court ruling on double punishment for administrative offenses
However, after receiving the fine notice in Travemünde, the owner of the vehicle lodged an objection with the Lübeck district court.
Just a few days earlier, he had received a similar fine from the public order office in Hamburg and found it unfair to be punished twice for the same violation.
He argued that he should be protected from further fine notices as long as the notice from Hamburg is not legally binding.
In some exceptional cases, the public order office can impose two fines for the same offense, as the district court in Lübeck has now decided.
© IMAGO/Michael Gstettenbauer
However, the judges at the Lübeck district court saw this differently.
In their opinion, it was possible to punish the man again for this administrative offense even though he had already received another fine.
They reasoned that he would otherwise be able to continue the violation for too long a period of time with impunity and unhindered.
An acquittal of the fine would contradict the clear intention of the legislature to effectively prosecute administrative offenses.
However, this judgment is not yet legally binding.
Punished twice for the same crime?
A court ruling clears things up
The situation would be different if two administrative offenses were committed in so-called unity.
According to bussgeldkatalog.de, this would be the case, for example, if a driver was caught while talking on the phone at the wheel.
Even though the driver then committed two violations, the fine depends on the higher of the two.
If there is a majority of offenses, i.e. if several acts and therefore several offenses are committed, the fines for the two administrative offenses are added together.
However, the prerequisite for this is that the acts are recognizable as independent and independent.
For example, if a charioteer is driving with worn tires and at the same time has not bothered to make the appointment for a general inspection of his vehicle, bussgeldkatalog.de gives a concrete example.
The penalties for driving under the influence of alcohol could also change, as a new alcohol limit is being discussed.
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