Do you know when traffic fines expire?

The period within which the authorities may notify a road traffic penalty is limited; once that deadline has passed, traffic fines expire

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And in this first paragraph we have wanted to explain, in more everyday language, what is meant by the time limit after which penalties and traffic fines expire.

Whether it is a local or regional authority, such as a city council or an autonomous community with traffic powers, or a national body such as the Directorate-General for Traffic (DGT) and also the Traffic Group of the Civil Guard, the Law on Traffic, Motor Vehicle Circulation and Road Safety provides that the competent body has a specific time limit to notify the offender of the proceedings against them; if, after that period, no such notification has been made, the notice will lapse without any fine or penalty.

Given the different legal nature of a traffic offence and a fine, there is also a difference in the time limit for the expiry of traffic offences or fines.

Time limit for the expiry of traffic offences

It should be noted that, in traffic matters, there is a significant difference between a minor offence and a serious or very serious offence.

The Traffic Law establishes that penalties classified as minor offences carry a fine of less than 100 euros, while serious or very serious offences carry a fine of 100 euros or more.

In these cases, a distinction is also made regarding the time limit within which traffic offences expire. Minor offences have three months, whereas serious or very serious offences have six months to be notified.

Time limit for the expiry of traffic fines

Traffic fines arise when a road traffic rule is breached and the penalty includes, in addition to a financial sanction, the imposition of a further penalty.

In the first case, the body issuing the notice must make its notification within a maximum period of one year. In the second, the time allowed to inform the offender about the notice is up to four years.

Fines that do not expire

It is important to note that if the notice has been issued and handed over by an officer with traffic competence, the offence is not subject to any expiry period.

Therefore, the expiry of every type of penalty has a different maximum notification period which, in any case, always starts counting from the day of the incident.

Closure of a traffic offence or fine

Once the legal period within which the notice should have been communicated has passed, the administration is responsible for determining whether the time limit has expired. In that case, it is the public body that must close the file and declare it void.

How to find out whether there is any pending offence or fine

In any case, it is possible to find out whether there is a pending traffic fine; in the corresponding article we set out the ways to check whether any penalty is in force against a driver, which is without doubt one of the keys to not losing your driving licence.