Traffic fines from another EU country: what can reach you at home

Which fines can reach you at home

• EU countries share data on traffic offences: if you commit one while driving in another country, the fine may be waiting for you when you get back.
• Today eight are shared: speeding, not wearing a seatbelt, not stopping at a red light, driving drunk or on drugs, not wearing a helmet, using a forbidden lane and using a mobile phone at the wheel.
• The country where you committed it decides whether to open proceedings, and does so under its own law: the deadline, the appeal and the payment are its own.

What the letter must say

• The offence, the place, date and time, the rule that was broken, the penalty and, if there was one, the device that detected it.
• It must reach you in the language of the car’s registration document or in one of the official languages of the country where it is registered.

If it was a hire car

The fine is the driver’s. The rental company usually charges you a fee for passing your details to whoever issued it, and the fine reaches you later at the address on the contract.

If you live in Spain and don’t pay it

• If the fine is final, the other country can ask for it to be enforced in Spain, provided it was criminal or could be appealed before a criminal court. The criminal judge (Juez de lo Penal) where you live decides.
• The judge won’t enforce it, among other cases, if it is under 70 euros, if you weren’t told of your right to appeal and the deadlines, or if your fundamental rights were breached.

If you get a fine

1. Check that the letter states the offence, the place, date and time, the rule and the penalty.
2. Look at the language: it must be that of the registration document or an official language of the country where the car is registered.
3. To appeal or pay, follow what the letter says: the procedure is that of the country where it happened.

None of the official sources we have read gives the amounts of the fines or each country’s speed or alcohol limits: each country sets its own. Check them before you drive there.

What will change

A 2024 directive changes these rules, but it doesn’t apply yet: countries have until 20 July 2027 to bring it in. Once they do:

• ten more offences will be shared, among them not keeping a safe distance, dangerous overtaking, crossing a solid line, driving the wrong way and leaving the scene of an accident;
• the notice will have to be issued within eleven months of the offence, if you have been identified;
• it will also say how to appeal and by when, how to pay from abroad and whether paying early reduces it, and you will be able to ask for further documents in another official EU language as well.