The State Duma counted the days of violators – Newspaper Kommersant No. 59 (7504) of 04/06/2023

The State Duma adopted a law stating that the statute of limitations for bringing citizens to administrative responsibility (for example, in case of violations of traffic rules) is considered from the day of the violation, and not from the next one. The old wording was not clear enough, and the courts considered time limits differently. The Constitutional Court drew attention to this problem, obliging the authorities to clarify the legislation. Fulfilling the order of the court, the State Duma also specified the unit for calculating the terms: earlier it was considered in months, now in days. This means that in fact the traffic police, courts and supervisory authorities will now have less time to apply sanctions against violators of law and order.

According to the adopted amendments to the Code of Administrative Offenses, the limitation period for bringing to responsibility will be calculated exclusively from the day the offense was committed, and the period itself will now be counted in days. To this end, the State Duma has amended Art. 4.5 and 4.8 of the code.

Today, we recall, the following rule applies: if the traffic police (or other supervisory authority) is involved in the violation, then the statute of limitations is two months, if the court – then three months. So, if on April 6 a motorist exceeded the speed limit or crossed the markings in a prohibited place under the camera, the two-month period allotted by the traffic police ends now on June 6 and the fine is no longer issued on the 7th. The new law allocates 60 days for this, so the deadline will end on June 5 and the decision will no longer be issued on June 6. If on September 1 the driver drove into the oncoming lane (or committed another violation, on which the court decides), then the last day for the judge is now December 1, and it will be November 30, since now the period will be 90 days. In the summer, since there are 31 days in July and August, the new law reduces the limitation period by two days: for a violation committed on July 1, the period will end on August 30, not September 1. In winter, due to the “short” February, the traffic police or the courts will have an extra day: in case of violation on January 1, the statute of limitations will end on March 2, and not on the 1st. In a leap year, there will be no difference. This rule for calculating deadlines applies not only to the traffic police and courts, but also to other authorities that have the right to punish citizens for administrative offenses: for example, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Rostransnadzor, Rosprirodnadzor, etc. Inspectors usually meet deadlines within the allotted time, but there are cases in practice, when they do not have time (for example, due to the large amount of materials from cameras that they do not have time to process). Supervisory authorities will now have less time to apply sanctions.

The reason for the adoption of the law was the decision of the Constitutional Court (CC), adopted in May 2022. Muscovite Olga Melnikova filed a complaint with the Constitutional Court, whom the court deprived of her rights on March 22, 2021 for leaving the scene of an accident on December 22, 2020 (that is, three months later). Ms. Melnikova tried to cancel the decision in different instances and eventually reached the Constitutional Court, which found that the current Code of Administrative Offenses contains uncertainty regarding the calculation of limitation periods, which leads to heterogeneous judicial practice: some courts consider the period from the day of the offense, others – from the next. Then, in May 2022, the Constitutional Court ordered the “legislator” to make clarifications to the Code of Administrative Offenses. In December 2022, the government submitted a draft law to the State Duma, fixing a new rule in the code and converting days into months: the latter is necessary to “ensure the equality of persons before the law,” the explanatory note to the amendments says.

Ivan Buranov