The State Duma ratified an agreement between Russia and Belarus on the mutual recognition of fines for traffic violations

The State Duma of the Russian Federation ratified an agreement between Russia and the Republic of Belarus on the mutual recognition of fines for violations of traffic rules. The Russian traffic police and the Belarusian traffic police will exchange information about all violators, including those whose vehicles were caught by traffic cameras. Car owners will receive fines by mail. Now, due to the lack of coordination between departments, many owners of cars with Belarusian license plates simply do not pay fines. Experts support the initiative and remind that cars from Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria sometimes violate traffic rules with impunity.

The authorities of Russia and Belarus have been talking about plans to conclude an interstate agreement and establish an exchange of information about violators. First, the draft agreement was approved by Presidents Alexander Lukashenko and Vladimir Putin, and on September 8, 2022, the document was signed by the heads of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Yesterday the agreement was ratified by the State Duma. The purpose of the initiative, explained State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Igor Zubov, is to improve road safety.

The authorities have not yet managed to establish full control over foreign violators. There is no data on the number of violations committed by Russians in Belarus and Belarusians in Russia. It is known that in the six months of 2023, 115 road accidents occurred in the Russian Federation due to the fault of citizens of the Republic of Belarus (compared to 104 for the same period in 2022), in which 25 people died. Problems arise when traffic cameras record violations: the devices read Belarusian license plates, but the traffic police do not have data on the owners (full name, address in Belarus). Departmental databases contain information only on some cars, and only on the condition that inspectors established this information when checking the cars and then entered it into the system. Thus, most violators simply do not pay fines.

After the agreement comes into force (it must still be approved by the Federation Council and President Vladimir Putin, so there is no exact date), control over the implementation of the resolutions will be noticeably simplified. So, in the case where the violator was stopped by an inspector, after drawing up the protocol, the violator will be given two months to pay the fine. If this does not happen, the Russian State Traffic Safety Inspectorate will send a request to Belarus to enforce the decision, for example, with the help of bailiffs. A more complex algorithm is assumed in the case of recording violations by automatic systems. Let’s say a car with Belarusian license plates was speeding: the license plate was recognized, but there was no information about the car owner. The Russian traffic police will send a request to the Belarusian traffic police to provide information about the owner of the vehicle. After this, the Russian side will formulate a resolution and send it to the specified address. If the fine is not paid after 60 days, a request for enforcement follows. A similar scheme will apply to Russians who have violated traffic rules on the territory of Belarus, but taking into account local laws. For example, the period for voluntary payment of a fine in the republic is a month, and not 60 days, as in Russia. In addition, in Belarus, drivers are fined for exceeding the speed limit by 10–20 km/h.

Requests must contain the date, place, time of the offense, the type of punishment imposed, and the rule of law on the basis of which the fine was imposed. If the violator has committed two or more offenses, they can be issued in one request. Requests can be sent by regular letters or electronically; the degree of readiness of the technical part of electronic exchange is not yet clear. According to Kommersant’s information, the traffic police tried to send test packages with lists of car numbers to Belarus, but did not receive a response. The “letter of happiness” is sent to Belarus, by the way, by international mail. This option should be provided for in regional contracts with Russian Post. According to Kommersant, six months ago most subjects had this opportunity, but not all.

“The initiator of the agreement was, of course, the Russian side. After all, we once opened up space for Belarusian cars. There were a lot of them, they were used constantly without looking at the cameras,” says Anton Shaparin, vice-president of the National Automobile Union. “The main interest was Moscow, which complained that owners of cars with Belarusian license plates do not pay for parking and do not receive fines . We support the agreement; all drivers should be on the same legal field.” At the same time, Mr. Shaparin says that in Moscow and other cities there are also many cars with license plates from Abkhazia, South Ossetia and Transnistria. Their owners also violate, they should also be monitored.

Ivan Buranov