EU court rules parking fees enforcable EU-wide
March 9, 2017
Parking fines are enforceable across the European Union provided they are issued by a judicial court, the European Court of Justice (ECJ), the highest court in the European Union in matters of European Union law, ruled on Thursday.
The ruling came after a Croatian court sought legal clarification from the ECJ in the case against a German man who neglected to buy a parking ticket in a coastal town in 2010.
A publicly-owned parking company in the town of Pula requested a public notary in Croatia issue a writ of enforcement against Sven Klaus Tederahn for the payment of 13 euros ($14). Tederahn challenged the writ and it was taken to the local Municipal Court who then sought the advice of the Luxembourg court.
The Croatian court wanted to know whether writs issued by notaries were covered by EU law and whether the ticket satisfied the requirements of civil and commercial EU law.
The EJC ruled that writs issued by public notaries were not sufficient to be covered by EU law. But it ruled that tickets of that nature did fall under EU regulation and were enforceable if issued by an appropriate authority.
The German driver did not participate in the EJC case.
aw/jm (AFP)