by Florian König, mautwelt.de - 02 April 2024
From May onwards, notorious parking offenders and speeders from Germany will find it uncomfortable, because from then on they will also be able to pay for parking tickets from Switzerland. A new police agreement between Germany and Switzerland, valid from 1 May 2024, will make this possible.
Until now, it was possible for traffic offenders to sit out the sometimes high fines from Switzerland in Germany: fines from countries outside the EU - Norway, Switzerland, Great Britain and Liechtenstein - could be enforced in Germany at all. Only the re-entry led to problems: Traffic offenders in Switzerland had to expect a penalty order or even imprisonment if they were stopped by the police.
Innovation comes into force on 1 May
This will change in just under a month when the new police treaty between Germany and Switzerland comes into force, and the relevant documents have already been exchanged between the authorities of the two countries.
The new agreement applies to fines of more than 70 euros or 80 Swiss francs. And, as these values are quickly reached in Switzerland - exceeding the speed limit of 20 kilometres per hour on the motorway already costs 180 francs - you should not be lulled into a false sense of security here.
What does the police contract regulate in detail?
According to the Swiss Federal Office of Police, the new police treaty between Switzerland and Germany primarily regulates "cross-border cooperation in the fight against terrorists, people smugglers, ATM burglars and mafiosi".
However, this also includes the prosecution of road traffic offences in §48. Of course, it also applies vice versa, i.e. when Swiss drivers in Germany violate the applicable traffic regulations.