Belgium's federal public services, SPF, could impose payment orders on drivers committing minor traffic violations from early next year.
These will be sent to people who deliberately don’t pay incurred fines, which this means a police tribunal will no longer need to handle such cases. The aim is to make sure that no-one would be able to avoid paying their fine.
Drivers that haven’t paid their fines for minor traffic infractions currently receive several reminders. At the end of the new process, those that continue to avoid paying will no longer appear before a police tribunal. The federal finance services will now be in charge of recovering the fine and any additional costs.
The new rules will come in to effect at the beginning of 2020. The change will be done in stages. “We always decide to progressively change the process with this type of new legislation,” said Edward Landtsheere, an SPF spokesperson.
The fine could be collected via tax payments. On top of that, the injunction could be forwarded to other EU member states so that those that live outside Belgium can’t avoid paying.
The system is designed to reduce the workload for police tribunals and the different Prosecutor’s offices. “The idea is to ensure there is no need for a tribunal, although an individual can always appeal, in which case it will then be handled by a police tribunal,” Landtsheere said.
The Brussels Times
