23.09.2022

HOW ARE THINGS WITH THE STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS FOR ADMINISTRATIVE VIOLATIONS AND PENALTIES?

The general rules for administrative violations and penalties, the procedure for establishing administrative violations and for imposing and executing administrative penalties, including the statute of limitations, are determined by a special law. It is about the Law on Administrative Violations and Penalties.

This normative act orders that an administrative violation is an act (action or inaction) that violates the established order of state administration, is committed culpably and is declared punishable by an administrative penalty imposed by administrative order.

And if the violations are defined in different codes or laws - for example, the one on road traffic, on customs, on health and many others, then what exactly are the administrative penalties is determined in the Law on Administrative Violations and Penalties.

It states that public reprimand, fine, temporary deprivation of the right to exercise a certain profession or activity can be provided for and imposed as administrative penalties for administrative violations. For an administrative violation committed repeatedly or systematically, a penalty of unpaid work for the benefit of society may be provided, which may be imposed independently or simultaneously with another of the above-mentioned penalties.

The public reprimand for the offense committed is a public reprimand of the offender before the labor collective where he works or before the organization of which he is a member. A fine, on the other hand, is a punishment that is expressed in the payment of a certain amount of money. In relation to minors, the administrative penalty of a fine is replaced by a public reprimand.

Deprivation of the right to practice a certain profession or activity is expressed in a temporary prohibition for the offender to practice a profession or activity in connection with which he committed the violation. The duration of this punishment cannot be less than one month and more than two years, and for violations related to traffic safety for all types of transport, committed after the use of alcohol, narcotic substances or their analogues - up to five years.

Unremunerated labor is labor performed for the benefit of society without prejudice to other rights of punishment. The duration of the unpaid community service penalty cannot be less than 40 hours and more than 200 hours per year for no more than two consecutive years.

As for the statute of limitations for administrative penalties, the Law on Administrative Offenses and Penalties expressly states that it is not enforced if two years have passed when the penalty imposed is a fine. The statute of limitations is six months when the imposed punishment is a temporary deprivation of the right to exercise a certain profession or activity or gratuitous work for the benefit of society, and three months when the imposed punishment is a public censure.

The statute of limitations begins to run from the entry into force of the act by which the punishment was imposed, and is interrupted by any action of the competent authorities taken against the punishments for the execution of the punishment. After the completion of the action that interrupted the statute of limitations, a new statute of limitations begins to run.

There is also an absolute statute of limitations. The Law on Administrative Violations and Penalties states that regardless of the suspension or interruption of the statute of limitations, the administrative penalty shall not be enforced if a term that exceeds by one second the already specified terms has expired. This means that, for example, in the case of a fine, the absolute statute of limitations is 3 years.

An arrangement has been made. According to it, the provision on the absolute prescription does not apply to the fine, when enforcement proceedings have been initiated for its collection within the two years.