Unproportionate fines on the motorway

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that the Hungarian regulation for punishing those who miss road toll payment is against EU law (Eurovignette directive). Two Hungarian freight forwarders, Euro-Team and Spirál-Gép, went to court because both of them had paid the road toll in advance for their lorries, but the drivers failed to exit the motorway in time, because of a navigation system error and because the driver made a mistake.

Both companies were fined about HUF 150,000. CJEU said that in cases like this the requirement of proportionality must be interpreted as precluding the level of the penalty provided for by a system of penalties. The court said neither company had obtained any advantage nor caused the state any loss.