This question needed to addressed by the Police Court of East Flanders,Ghent Division.

A vehicle registered in the name of a company was alleged to have committed two minor speeding violations: once driving at 40 km/h in a 30 km/h zone and once at 39 km/h in a 30 km/h zone.

The municipality concerned issued two municipal administrative fines of€53.00 each to the company under who the vehicle was registered.

The company submitted a defense form against both fines, arguing that the violations were contested because the company itself was not the driver of the vehicle.

The municipal officer of the municipality rejected the defense, stating that under Article 67ter of the Road Traffic Act (WVW), the legal entity was obliged to disclose the identity of the driver. If the legal entity failed to identify the driver within 30 days, both fines would be enforced against the legal entity.

Disagreeing with this decision, the company appealed the fines to the police court.

Before the police court, the company argued that administrative fines for speeding violations could not be imposed on legal entities and that municipalities had no authority under the municipal administrative sanctions system to impose fines based on Article 67ter WVW for failure to disclose the identity of the driver.

In its judgment of December 31, 2024, the Police Court of Ghent sided with the company and ruled as follows:

1.

Article 29quater WVW, which allows municipalities to impose administrative fines for minor speeding violations, states:

§2. Municipal councils may only impose administrative fines as mentioned in paragraph 1 if all the following conditions are met:

1. The     violation involves exceeding the speed limit by no more than 20 km/h;
2. The     speeding violations occur in areas where the speed limit is 30 or 50 km/h;
3. The     violations are detected using automatic devices, as specified in Article     62, that are fully funded by the local government;
4. The     violation is committed by an adult natural person, as presumed or     identified under Articles 67bis and 67ter;
5. No     other violations are recorded simultaneously.

The Police Court ruled that Article 29quater implicitly acknowledges that a legal entity cannot commit a speeding violation.

The court also referred to case law from the Constitutional Court, whic hhad previously ruled that:

"The very nature of a legal entity prevents the establishment of a presumption regarding the identity of the offender. Furthermore, because of the impossibility of directly linking the vehicle involved in the violation to the offender—whether a natural person or a legal entity—Article 67ter includes an obligation to disclose the driver’s identity." (Judgment No. 5/007 of January 11, 2007)

Thus, a legal entity, by its very nature, cannot commit a speeding violation and therefore cannot be subjected to an administrative fine for such an offense.

2.

Furthermore, the Police Court confirmed that, under Articles 67bis and67ter WVW, the driver of the vehicle must indeed be identified. However,municipalities have no authority to sanction alleged violations of Article67ter WVW.

The Police Court concluded that the underlying speeding violation could not be attributed to the legal entity and that if the legal entity failed to respond to a request for identification, municipalities could not impose a GAS fine for this reason.

As a result, both fines were annulled.

3.

Does this mean that minor speeding violations committed by company cars go unpunished? The answer is no.

The fact that legal entities cannot be fined for speeding violations is not new. As explained earlier, legal entities, by their nature, cannot commit speeding violations, as they cannot drive a vehicle.

This is precisely why Article 67ter WVW was introduced, requiring legal entities to identify the driver. Once the driver is identified, they can be personally fined.

That municipalities cannot sanction legal entities for speeding violations or for failing to disclose the driver’s identity does not mean that legal entities escape penalties altogether.

Legal entities are still obligated to comply with Article 67ter WVW.They must provide the driver's identity when requested.

If a legal entity ignores such a request for identification, it can still be fined or summoned before the police court under Article 67ter WVV not by municipalities, but by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

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