The treatment of traffic offenses by criminal and administrative law

A traffic offence in the Netherlands can lead to two entirely separate responses at the same time: a criminal sanction imposed by the Public Prosecution Service or the criminal court, and an administrative measure imposed by the CBR, the driving licence authority. The two run in parallel, they follow different procedures, and one does not replace the other. A driver can therefore be fined by the criminal court and, weeks later, be required by the CBR to undergo a course or an examination of fitness to drive at their own expense — or lose the licence altogether.

Understanding which track you are on determines what you can do about it, and how long you have to act.

Three routes, depending on the seriousness of the offence

Minor traffic offences — speeding within limits, ignoring a traffic sign, using a telephone while driving — are dealt with administratively under the Administrative Enforcement of Traffic Regulations Act, commonly known as the Wet Mulder. The Central Judicial Collection Agency (CJIB) issues the sanction; it is not a criminal conviction and does not appear on a criminal record. You may lodge an objection with the public prosecutor within six weeks, and if that fails, appeal to the sub-district court and ultimately to the Court of Appeal in Arnhem-Leeuwarden. Bringing an appeal against a Mulder sanction normally requires the amount to be paid into court first.

More serious conduct is dealt with under criminal law, on the basis of the Road Traffic Act 1994. The main provisions are Article 5, which prohibits conduct that endangers others on the road; Article 6, which covers causing death or serious injury through negligence; Article 7, on leaving the scene of an accident; Article 8, on driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs; and Article 9, on driving while disqualified or with a licence that has been declared invalid.

Alongside either of those, the CBR may take administrative action of its own under Articles 130 to 134 of the Road Traffic Act. This is the track drivers most often fail to anticipate.

The criminal track: what the Public Prosecution Service can impose

For offences under the Road Traffic Act the prosecutor can issue a penalty order (strafbeschikking) or bring the case before the criminal court. The available sanctions are a fine, community service, a custodial sentence, and — in practice often the most disruptive — disqualification from driving under Article 179 of the Act. A disqualification can be imposed wholly or partly conditionally.

Two rules deserve particular attention. A novice driver, in the first years after obtaining a first licence, is subject to a considerably lower alcohol limit than an experienced driver. And under the repeat-offender scheme for serious traffic offences in Article 123b of the Act, a licence becomes invalid by operation of law where a driver is convicted a second time within five years of a serious alcohol offence. That consequence follows automatically from the conviction; it is not a discretionary decision, and it cannot be negotiated away at the hearing.

The administrative track: what the CBR can impose

Where the police record a suspicion that a driver is not fit or not competent to drive, they send a notification to the CBR. That notification is independent of whether the prosecutor decides to prosecute, and the CBR reaches its own decision on it. Depending on the seriousness, the CBR may impose an educational measure on alcohol and traffic or a lighter educational measure, require an investigation into fitness to drive or into driving competence, or declare the licence invalid.

Three features of this track catch people out. The costs of a course or an investigation are borne by the driver, and they are substantial. Refusing to cooperate, or failing to attend, generally results in the licence being declared invalid. And the CBR can act on a notification even where the criminal case ends in an acquittal or is dropped, because the two decisions answer different questions.

Why both tracks may apply to the same incident

The obvious objection is that a driver is being dealt with twice for one incident. In law that is not what happens. A criminal sanction is a punishment; a CBR measure is classified as an administrative measure aimed at road safety rather than at punishment, and the prohibition on being tried twice for the same offence therefore does not stand in the way of it. The classification is not merely formal — it determines which safeguards apply, and it is why the CBR needs no conviction before it acts.

That said, the boundary is not unlimited. The courts have intervened where the combined effect of a criminal prosecution and an administrative programme was so punitive in substance that it could not be reconciled with the requirements of a fair trial. The alcohol interlock programme, which was set aside on that basis, is the clearest example.

What to do when both letters arrive

The time limits run separately and neither waits for the other. An objection to a CBR decision must be lodged within six weeks of the decision, and an appeal against a Mulder sanction within six weeks of the notice. Waiting for the criminal case to be resolved before responding to the CBR is the single most common and most expensive mistake, because by then the administrative decision has become final and can no longer be challenged.

Two other points are worth acting on early. What is said in the police interview about alcohol or drug use feeds directly into the CBR notification, so the interview matters for both tracks at once. And where a disqualification would be disproportionate given the driver’s work or care responsibilities, that argument has to be put and substantiated before the criminal court, with documents; it will not be assumed.

Legal assistance

Not every traffic matter needs a lawyer. A first speeding fine does not. But where a prosecution under Articles 6 or 8 of the Road Traffic Act is combined with a CBR notification, where a licence is needed for work, or where the repeat-offender scheme is in play, the two tracks have to be handled together and within their own time limits. Law & More advises and represents drivers in both criminal proceedings and CBR procedures.