What happens if... you don't pay a traffic police fine

The amount of costs for conducting enforcement actions can many times exceed the fine amount

• traffic police officers may lose the protocol form about the violation;
• they may not enter this violation into the database;
• due to staff shortages, heavy workload, etc., traffic police officers may not transfer materials on the administrative offense to the enforcement service;
• due to staff shortages, heavy workload, etc., enforcement service officers may not initiate enforcement proceedings.

All this leads to the fact that an issued fine may well go without consequences for the violator.

There is another inconsistency that the author encountered this summer: the traffic police does not have the ability to check whether the violator paid the fine (the recipient of fines is another organization - the State Treasury) - therefore it is so important to present the receipt and cancel the fine at the traffic police at the place of residence.

Otherwise - the State Enforcement Service will be activated. This situation was commented on by Vitaliy Savchuk, a lawyer at the company "Rybin and Partners":

Lawyer's comment

Vitaliy Savchuk, lawyer at LLC "Rybin and Partners"

If you paid the fine, but a letter from the enforcement service arrived, first you should carefully double-check everything - whether the fine was paid correctly (details, amount, payment date). Perhaps the paid amount simply did not reach the budget. According to Article 307 of the Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses, the fine must be voluntarily paid within 15 days from the moment of receiving the resolution on its imposition. After that, it is subject to forced collection. In this case, a double amount of the fine is forcibly collected, as well as a fee in favor of the enforcement service.

Thus, if the fine was paid correctly and on time, you are not obliged to pay it again. In this situation, you can contact the enforcement service in the following order:

1. First, you should call the state executor, whose phone number is usually indicated on the order. You can find out from him whether an enforcement case has actually been opened, on what basis, and whether there is no mistake.
2. Next, it makes sense to provide the executor with a copy of the payment receipt. This can be done either in person or by letter. Please note that in order to avoid problems, several copies of the receipt must exist. You should also attach an application for the termination of proceedings in connection with the timely payment of the fine (clause 8 of Article 49 of the Law of Ukraine "On Enforcement Proceedings").

If you immediately received a demand from the executor for forced execution of the resolution, and before that you were not sent a resolution on opening enforcement proceedings, then this is a violation on the part of the executor, since you should have received such a document the very next day after its issuance (Article 25 of the Law). In this case, it is possible to apply to the court with a complaint about the executor's actions. Moreover, with such violations, there is no basis for you to pay any enforcement fees.

Reference

Code of Ukraine on Administrative Offenses

Article 38. Time limits for imposing administrative penalties
An administrative penalty may be imposed no later than two months from the date of the offense, and for a continuing offense - no later than two months from the date of its detection, except for cases where cases of administrative offenses in accordance with this Code are under the jurisdiction of the court (judge).
If cases of administrative offenses in accordance with this Code or other laws are under the jurisdiction of the court (judge), the penalty may be imposed no later than three months from the date of the offense, and for a continuing offense - no later than three months from the date of detection, except for cases of administrative offenses specified in part three of this article.

Article 289. Time limit for appealing a resolution on an administrative offense case
An appeal against a resolution on an administrative offense case may be filed within ten days from the date of the resolution. If this deadline is missed for valid reasons, this period may be extended by the body (official) authorized to consider the complaint upon the application of the person against whom the resolution was issued.

Article 307. Time limits and procedure for executing a resolution on imposing a fine
The fine must be paid by the violator no later than fifteen days from the date of serving him the resolution on imposing the fine, and in case of appeal or protest of such resolution - no later than fifteen days from the date of notification of leaving the complaint or protest unsatisfied.
In the absence of independent earnings for persons aged sixteen to eighteen who have committed an administrative offense, the fine is collected from their parents or persons replacing them.
The fine imposed for committing an administrative offense is paid by the violator to a bank institution of Ukraine, except for the fine collected at the place of the offense, unless otherwise established by the legislation of Ukraine.

Article 308. Forced execution of a resolution on collecting a fine
In case of non-payment of the fine by the violator within the period established by part one of Article 307 of this Code, the resolution on imposing the fine is sent for forced execution to the department of state enforcement service at the place of residence of the violator, work, or location of his property in the manner established by law.
In the order of forced execution of the resolution on collecting a fine for committing an administrative offense, the following is collected from the violator:

• double the amount of the fine, determined in the relevant article of this Code and specified in the resolution on collecting the fine;
• costs for recording these offenses. The amount of costs for recording offenses is determined by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

Conclusion

An unpaid fine, even after a long time, can turn out to be a time bomb: maybe everyone has already forgotten about it, and it will not "go off", or maybe a resolution on the seizure of housing is already being prepared.

If you paid the fine on time - immediately present the receipt to the traffic police at the place of residence and cancel the fine - otherwise the enforcement service may come to you.

If enforcement proceedings have been initiated (a letter has arrived) - you cannot put off your actions! Otherwise, for a penny violation, you can get "a bunch of problems".

If you paid the fine voluntarily, but after a reminder from the enforcement service, - be sure to contact the state executor so that he closes the case (in addition, you should pay 10% of the enforcement fee to the account that the executor will indicate).

The enforcement service is obliged to notify the traffic police about the payment of the fine. But do not rely on this - do not be lazy and present the receipt to the traffic police at the place of residence, and also check whether the fine has been canceled - otherwise the enforcement service may come to you a second time.

Even if within three months (the statute of limitations has passed) a letter from the enforcement service has not arrived - you still should not relax: maybe all this time you have been searched by Interpol, after which they will present a bill for all the measures taken.

In our opinion - the most correct option would be to pay the fine on time (then bring the receipt), or immediately appeal the fine in court.

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