Dienstag, 18.05.2021
Fines and the tuning scene: "beautification" of the official license plate with black stickers on a Euro field
from
Dr. jur. Ingo E. FrommLawyer
Specialist in criminal law
Specialist in traffic law
Give me a call: 0261 - 404 99 25
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In the tuning scene, it seems to be a trend at present to design the field with the EU star symbol on the left of the license plate not in blue, but in black. More and more often, owners are affixing black stickers to the license plate. The stickers are easily and cheaply available from online shops.
Relevance to administrative fines
Increasingly, the fine authorities are initiating administrative offense proceedings because this constitutes an impermissible modification of the license plate. Section 10 (2) and (12) of the Vehicle Registration Ordinance stipulates that license plates must not be reflective, covered or dirty; they must not be additionally covered with glass, films or similar covers, unless the cover has been approved in exceptional cases. The color of the euro field in the official license plate is legally defined as blue. According to No. 179b of the fine catalog, there is a fine of €65, but no points in Flensburg.
Discontinuation of proceedings possible
In a fine proceedings before the District Court Kitzingen, the judge said that the existence of a violation of § 10, paragraph 2, sentence 1 FZV in the present case actually seems questionable. According to the above provision, license plates should not be reflective, be obscured or dirty, and also not be covered with glass, film or similar materials; the purpose of the regulation is likely to be the easy, quick and unambiguous recognizability of the license plate, which in the present case, however, was probably not compromised. The judge referred to the photographs in the file. In any case, however, any fault on the part of the person concerned would be at the lowest level. The judge therefore considered a dismissal of the proceedings in accordance with § 47 of the German Administrative Offenses Act to be justifiable.
Lack of criminal relevance
Those against whom only a fine has been imposed should consider themselves lucky: in a comparable case in Bavaria, a penalty order was issued for forgery. The defendant objected to this. In the first instance, the district court rejected the charge of forgery, but convicted the defendant of misuse of license plates in accordance with § 22 of the German Road Traffic Act (StVG). It was only the Higher Regional Court that found that no criminal offense had been committed.
It is strongly recommended to seek the help of a Lawyer specialized in traffic law.
The statements represent initial information that was current for the law applicable in Germany at the time of initial publication. The legal situation may have changed since then. Furthermore, the information provided cannot replace individual advice on a specific matter. Please contact us for this purpose.