Penalty for Driving an Unregistered Vehicle Overturned

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адв. Васил Калибацев

The District Court of Blagoevgrad has issued yet another ruling, through which we prove that a driver cannot suffer adverse consequences resulting from an unlawful refusal to register a vehicle. This time, our client was spared a six-month license suspension, a 200 BGN fine, and the loss of 10 penalty points.

How did we get to the citation?

We have previously shared that, based on our appeals, the refusals by Traffic Police departments to register acquired vehicles – due to engine number discrepancies – are being overturned. In this specific case, after our client had fulfilled his obligation to apply for the registration of his purchased car, he was pulled over for a check by a police patrol. In a humiliating situation, he was detained on-site for three hours while the two officers checked the system and deliberated on their next move. Through their automated check in the Ministry of Interior’s information system, they discovered that the vehicle’s registration had been terminated.

Our client had never been notified of this circumstance. In essence, the administrative termination of the registration was also unlawful. Despite these objections being raised on the spot, the officers not only issued a citation for an alleged violation – driving an unregistered vehicle – but also removed the legally issued license plates from the car.

Criminal Investigation

Due to imprecision in the legal framework, Parliament has categorised the driving of an unregistered vehicle as both an administrative offence and a crime under the Criminal Code. Formally, this compels police authorities to always forward the case file to the Prosecution Service, which then returns it several months later with the conclusion that there is no evidence of a crime having been committed.

In our case, it was also established that no crime had been committed. However, at the same time, the prosecutor – by distorting the data collected in the file (including our objections and evidence) – impermissibly offered an unsolicited opinion that exceeded their competence: namely, that a culpable administrative offence had been committed.

Under these circumstances, the Head of the Blagoevgrad Traffic Police issued a penal decree without in any way considering the objections raised or gathering evidence, despite a legal obligation to do so. The penal decree incorrectly imposed an administrative penalty of a six-month driving disqualification, a 200 BGN fine, and the deduction of 10 penalty points. This provided the grounds for an appeal before the court.

Outcome of the case

Before the court, our position was upheld: that driving a vehicle with terminated registration did not constitute a culpable violation of the Bulgarian Road Traffic Act (Art. 140, Para. 1). We achieved a full annulment of the penal decree with the following ruling:

The next step is the final resolution of the consequences arising from the unlawful refusal. Stay tuned to the Klauza News to follow the outcomes of our work on this and other compelling cases.

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