Link: Lorry, motor coach and bus drivers who, during an inspection, do not produce the record sheets for the tachograph relating to the current day and the previous 28 days are subject to a single penalty, irrespective of the number of missing record sheets (europa.eu)

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Court of Justice of the European Union

PRESS RELEASE No 45/21

Luxembourg, 24 March 2021

Judgment in Joined Cases C-870/19 and C-871/19

Prefettura Ufficio territoriale del governo di Firenze v MI and TB

Lorry, motor coach and bus drivers who, during an inspection, do not produce the record sheets for the tachograph relating to the current day and the previous 28 days are subject to a single penalty, irrespective of the number of missing record sheets

The principle that offences and penalties must be defined by law, in accordance with which citizens must be in a position to ascertain what conduct will make them criminally liable and the penalties which that conduct attracts, applies to this field

In 2013, during two roadside inspections carried out in Italy, the Italian authorities established that MI (Case C-870/19) and TB (Case C-871/19), as drivers of road transport vehicles (lorries, motor coaches and buses), were not able to produce the record sheets of the tachograph installed in their vehicles relating to the current day and several of the previous 28 days. Those authorities therefore imposed a number of administrative penalties on MI and TB for a number of infringements.

MI and TB brought actions before the Italian courts against those penalties. 

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