One loose wire can cost truck drivers DKK 9,000: – Fines are “disproportionate”

The law makes no distinction between mistakes and cheating. This is disproportionate, according to lawyers and industry organizations. Sund & Bælt maintains that the law is clear.

A fine of DKK 9,000 (approx. EUR 1206)

That is how much, it costs a truck driver, regardless of whether he has deliberately tried to cheat – or whether a mileage tax box in the windscreen briefly loses signal.

This has led critics to question, whether the system behind the mileage tax is in line with the principle of proportionality in Danish and European law.

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Lawyer Anders Stig Vestergaard has represented several foreign transport companies, that have been fined in Denmark. According to him Danish practice violates fundamental principles.

“A distinction must be made between deliberate cheating and human error. That is not being done here, and I believe, that violates the principle of proportionality,” he says.

He believes, that in the vast majority of cases, Danish courts will rule in favor of the authorities. Hope therefore lies with EU law:

“If the European Court of Justice rules, that the Danish fining practice is disproportionate, the Danish courts will comply. Then, hopefully, each case can be assessed individually,” he says.

Minor errors punished as fraud

The industry organization ITD regularly sees members being severely punished, even when they mostly comply with the rules.

“We have a member, who pays correctly 99.6 percent of the time. Yet the company has been fined almost DKK 300.000,00 (approx. EUR 40214). That says everything about, how skewed the proportionality is, says chief legal counsel Maria Feldberg.

She points out, that Germany and other countries have chosen a more differentiated model:

“In Germany, you get a follow-up charge, if there are registration errors – and in the worst case, a lower fine. This is a far more reasonable way of dealing with technical failures, than what we see in Denmark, she says.

Sund & Bælt emphasizes, that the system is administered according to the law – and that it does not distinguish between errors and fraud.

The Road Toll Act is clear: either you have paid, or you have not. No distinction is made between intentional and unintentional circumstances, says Katrine Hauge Vej-Hansen, head of the road toll scheme.

She points out, that the Minister of Transport has called for leniency in cases of obvious typing errors, and that the number of fines is decreasing as the system stabilizes.

“In July, the proportion of fines was down to 0.3 percent of registered vehicles. The vast majority pay correctly,” she says.

The EU may have the final say

Although the error rate is low, the consequences of each individual fine are high. Therefore many in the industry are looking to the EU.

“If the European Court of Justice concludes that DKK 9,000 for each violation is disproportionate, it could mean, that fines will be reduced at the court’s discretion in the future. This could result in more reasonable treatment for truck drivers,” says Anders Stig Vestergaard.

Until then, the rules remain in force: a single mistake can cost the same as deliberate fraud.

Written by journalist Mark Bøje, Nordiske Medier